Sheikh Rashid, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi test positive for Covid-19

Federal minister, former premier in isolation at their respective residences

Former premier Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed tested positive for the coronavirus on Monday. Both have gone into self-isolation at their respective residences.

The minister is asymptomatic thus far and has quarantined himself at his house. The federal minister had been occupied with the demands of his office as the Pakistan Railways recently resumed operations after a two month hiatus due to the coronavirus.

The confirmation for Abbasi came from Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) spokesperson Maryam Aurangzeb. Party chief Shahbaz Sharif and Senate Chairperson Sadiq Sanjrani wished him Abbasi a speedy recovery.

On Sunday, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader Sharjeel Memon also tested positive for the contagion. Memon is currently under self-isolation as well.

Memon, who has served as provincial minister in the past, is the Sindh government’s focal person for coronavirus in Hyderabad.

He attended the provincial assembly’s sessions up until three days ago. Results of Memon’s first test, conducted on May 28, came negative before the Sindh Assembly session.

Symptoms started to appear during the session, prompting the PPP leader to go through the testing once again.

MQM lawmaker Shahana Ashar also fell prey to coronavirus during the assembly session.

Last week, member of Punjab Assembly Shaukat Manzoor Cheema succumbed to the disease, after a month long battle with the deadly virus. MPA in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Assembly Mian Jamsheduddin Kakakhel, and Sindh human settlement minister Ghulam Murtaza Baloch also lost their lives to the virus in the same week.

Four other members of the K-P Assembly, Faisal Zeb Khan, Salahuddin Khan, Zeenat Bibi, and Jamshed Khan, also tested positive for the virus in the previous week.

On June 7, Pakistan became the 14th country to cross the 100k mark for Covid-19 cases. The nationwide tally currently stands at 103,671 and the virus has claimed at least 2,067 lives in the country.