Gujarat: Congress corporator tests positive for coronavirus

A day after Congress MLA Imran Khedawala tested positive for coronavirus in Ahmedabad, party corporator Badruddin Shaikh also tested positive for the infection, a senior civic official said on Wednesday.

The corporator from the city's Behrampura ward had approached the authorities for a test two days ago, Ahmedabad Municipal Commissioner Vijay Nehra said. "Shaikh's report has come out positive. He was under home quarantine, but now we have initiated the process to hospitalise him," Nehra said.

Behrampura falls under Danilimda area, which is one of the localities that has been put under seven-day curfew, starting Wednesday to contain the spread of coronavirus. Meanwhile, Khedawala, who tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday, was shifted to SVP Hospital, Nehra said, adding that efforts are on to trace people who had come in contact with him.

The Congress leader represents Jamalpur-Khadia seat in Ahmedabad, which is also under curfew for having several COVID-19 cases. Khedawala, along with MLAs Gyasuddin Shaikh and Shailesh Parmar, had met Chief Minister Vijay Rupani in Gandhinagar on Tuesday, hours before his report came out positive.

"Khedawala's condition is stable. Two other MLAs are under home quarantine. We have collected their samples and sent them for testing," the civic chief said. Since Khedawala had also interacted with reporters in Gandhinagar, several of them were under home quarantine.