Health

Pakistan foreign minister tests positive for Covid-19

Islamabad, Jul 3 (efe-epa).- The foreign minister of Pakistan announced on Friday he has tested positive for Covid-19, becoming the latest politician to get infected by the highly contagious coronavirus in the country.

“I have now tested positive for Covid-19. By the grace of Allah, I feel strong and energetic. I will continue to carry on my duties from home. Please keep me in your prayers,” Shah Mahmood Qureshi said in a tweet.

In most of the video clips and photos issued by his office in recent weeks, Qureshi can be seen without a mask during meetings and official gatherings.

More than 221,895 people have tested positive for the novel coronavirus across the country and 4,551 have died since the first case was reported on Feb.26.

Several political leaders in the country have contracted the virus so far, including opposition leader in the lower house of the parliament and PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif, National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser, Railway Minister Sheikh Rashid, Sindh province Governor Imran Ismail. All of them have recovered.

The country has been witnessing a drop in the number of cases as well as in deaths over the past week.

The number of Covid-19 cases fell to 4,087 on Friday from the record high of 6,895 on Jun.13. The number of deaths came down to 78 from a record high of 153 on Jun.19.

However, the average number of tests conducted per day has also dropped from nearly 30,000 to 22,941 in the last few weeks.

Chief of the center created to oversee coronavirus situation, Asad Umar, said in a press conference that while the country’s overall coronavirus situation was getting better, there was a significant lack of improvement in Sindh, particularly in the country’s biggest city and financial hub, Karachi.

“I had earlier warned that our cases could reach 1.2 million by July end if we don’t take action or follow preventive measures. But because people are following precautionary measures and the administration is also taking action this number may be less than 400,000,” Umar said.

Moreover, he warned the people against letting their guard down, saying that not following preventive measures could cause the number of cases to rise again.

“Don’t take this to mean that the pandemic is going away on its own and you can do whatever you want,” he underlined. EFE-EPA

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