Pakistan: Premier, wife test positive for COVID-19

KARACHI, Pakistan

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi, have tested positive for COVID-19, his office confirmed on Saturday.

Khan and his wife are self-isolating at home, the premier's office and the party said on Twitter.

The news came just two days after the prime minister received his first dose of the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine on Thursday.

"PM Imran Khan has tested positive for COVID-19 and is self isolating at home," the premier's adviser on health affairs Faisal Sultan tweeted early in the day.

Hours later, the spokesman for Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, Senator Faisal Javed, confirmed on Twitter that the prime minister's wife, Bushra Bibi, had also tested positive for the virus.

Meanwhile, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi took to the Twitter to convey his "best wishes" for his Pakistani counterpart's speedy recovery.

"Best wishes to Prime Minister @ImranKhanPTI for a speedy recovery from COVID-19," Modi said.

Pakistan has witnessed a surge in coronavirus infections over recent days, with 42 more deaths and 3,876 new cases -- the highest daily tally since last July -- reported on Saturday, according to Health Ministry data.

The country's overall caseload now stands at 623,135, including 13,799 fatalities and 579,670 recoveries.

Since December 2019, the pandemic has claimed over 2.7 million lives in 192 countries and regions.

Over 122.37 million cases have been reported worldwide, with recoveries now over 69.32 million, according to figures compiled by the US' Johns Hopkins University.