Sindh lawmaker tests positive for Covid-19

Ag Agencies

KARACHI/ISLAMABAD: Sindh Assembly lawmaker Rana Hameer Singh became the latest politician to test positive for Covid-19 on Tuesday, a day after Sindh governor Imran Ismail revealed he had contracted the disease.

According to an aide, Singh got tested after a meeting with Jamaat-e-Islami’s MPA Abdul Rasheed two weeks ago, who himself tested positive for Covid-19 last week. This comes as Pakistan’s virus cases exceeded 14,600, with deaths at 322 at the time of this report.

Meanwhile, Punjab health minister Yasmin Rashid said seven “Level 3 laboratories” were made functional in the province to ramp up daily testing to nearly 5 000. Punjab is currently the hardest hit province with more than 5,700 cases.

Sindh, on the other hand, banned all religious gatherings during the holy month of Ramadan, which includes Yaum-e-Ali and Mehfil-e-Shabeenas in a bid to contain the spread of coronavirus. According to a notification released by the province’s Home Department all religious gatherings “being not mandatory shall not be held”.

Separately, the Sindh Governor’s house revealed that in the 10 days ahead of Imran Ismail’s diagnosis, he rubbed shoulders with a host of people and attended important meetings across the province.

In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the province’s police chief told Geo News that action was taken against nearly 14,000 people for flouting the province-wide virus lockdown. KP Inspector-General (IG) of Police Sanaullah Abbasi said authorities took action against 13,978 people, of which 4,047 were in Peshawar, 1,993 in Mardan, and 1,557 in Swat. In addition, 7,352 cases were registered over the same time period for violating lockdown restrictions.