President Donald Trump’s visit to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta has been called off because of concerns that a staff member may have been infected by Covid-19.

Mr Trump told reporters that concerns were raised Thursday about “one person who was potentially infected” who worked at the CDC.

“Because of the one person they didn’t want me going,” he added, explaining why a planned stop at the agency, which is working with state and local officials to help combat the spread of the new virus, was left off his schedule.

A Centres for Disease Control and Prevention logo at the agency’s federal headquarters in Atlanta (David Goldman/AP)

Mr Trump said the person has since tested negative for the new virus.

He said he still hopes to visit the agency.

Covid-19 so far has killed 12 people in the US, most of them in Washington state.

Mr Trump had planned to sign an 8.3 billion US dollar coronavirus response funding bill at the CDC.

Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar looks on as President Donald Trump shows a spending bill to combat Covid-19 (Evan Vucci/AP)

Instead he signed it at the White House before his departure to travel to view tornado damage in Tennessee.

The White House said in a statement that Mr Trump would no longer visit the agency because he “does not want to interfere with the CDC’s mission to protect the health and welfare of their people and the agency”.