Pakistan Health Minister Zafar Mirza tests positive for COVID-19, isolates himself at home

State Minister of Health of Pakistan, Zafar Mirza has been tested positive of COVID-19. Mirza who was formerly the Director Health System for World Health Organization (WHO) has taken to Twitter to inform about him testing positive for the deadly virus. Having mild symptoms, mirza said he has isolated himself after his test result came out positive.

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This comes just days after Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi testing COVID positive. Quereshi said he felt mild fever in the afternoon and immediately quarantined himself at home, adding that he will continue to perform his duties from there.

Many from the top political brass of Pakistan have tested positive for COVID-19. Besides, Zafar Mirza and Shah Mahmood Qureshi, incumbent Railways Minister and former Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi also tested positive for coronavirus in early June. Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’ brother Shehbaz Sharif, who leads the opposition party Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), tested positive in late June. PML-N leader Ataullah Tarar Ataullah Tarar had then blamed Prime Minister Imran Khan and National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for putting the life of Sharif in danger.

Pakistan has been witnessing a rapid surge in the number of coronavirus cases as the COVID-19 count of the country stands at 231,818 after 3,344 new infections were detected in the last 24 hours, while 50 people died of the deadly disease, taking the death toll to 4,762 according to John Hopkins University COVID tracker.

The South Korean government on June 21 announced flight and visa restrictions from Pakistan and Bangladesh after the country witnessed a surge in coronavirus cases imported from these two nations. The authorities have restricted issuing visas for people travelling from these two countries, except for diplomatic and urgent business purposes. Non-scheduled flights from these countries have also been temporarily banned. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has also temporarily suspended receiving passengers from Pakistan until a special COVID-19 lab is set up to test them.

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