Former NA speaker Ayaz Sadiq tests positive for coronavirus

Sadiq is the latest PML-N leader to have tested positive for Covid-19

Former National Assembly speaker and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Ayaz Sadiq tested positive for the novel coronavirus on Friday.

The party president, Shehbaz Sharif, informed of Sadiq's test result through his official Twitter and prayed for his recovery.

Senior PML-N leader Sardar Ayaz Sadiq has tested positive for Covid-19. A thorough gentleman & seasoned politician who conducted the business of the National Assembly impartially as a Speaker. I wish him a speedy recovery and good health.

— Shehbaz Sharif (@CMShehbaz) June 12, 2020

Pakistani politicians and parliament members are facing a huge increase of coronavirus cases in their ranks as about 100 parliamentarians have contracted the virus in recent days.

Five senior MPs, including Shehbaz and former interior minister and senior opposition leader Ahsan Iqbal, also tested positive for the virus.

A day earlier it was reported the tests of senior PML-N leader Ahsan Iqbal, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MNA Farrukh Habib, Senator Sana Jamali, JUI-F MNA Shahida Akhtar Ali and MQM’s Usama Qadri came back positive as well.

Former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed and former health minister for Punjab Khawaja Salman Rafiq tested positive on June 8.

Other high-profile politicians infected include the Governor Sindh province Imran Ismail, Parliament Speaker Asad Qaiser and former senior minister Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Inayatullah Khan, among others.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared Pakistan the country at most risk to the pandemic after Afghanistan.