Photo: US Defense Secretary Mark Esper. /Agencies

The US Dapartment of Defense has seen 37 reported cases of COVID-19, including 18 military personnel, 13 military family members, three civilian employees and three contractors, said Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman at a news breifing on Monday.

Meanwhile, US Defense Secretary Mark Esper has started keeping himself and his staff physically separated from his deputy's team as one of the precautions to prevent the spread of the coronavirus from impacting the Pentagon's operations.