BNP-M chief Akhtar Mengal tests positive for coronavirus

QUETTA: Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M) chief Akhtar Mengal has announced that he had tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

The BNP leader took to Twitter and wrote that he had interacted with him in the last few days should get tested for the virus immediately.

I have been tested positive for COVID-19. I request everyone who has interacted with me to get tested immediately.

— Akhtar Mengal (@sakhtarmengal) August 19, 2020

Akhtar Mengal shared the news at a time when the country is reporting a downward trend in the spread of the virus. The World Health Organisation (WHO) had recommended Pakistan increase daily testing to above 50,000, but after peaking at 31,000 tests exactly a month ago, testing was reduced to less than 20,000 people in July.

Prominent political leaders who had contracted the virus so far include National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser, PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Governor Sindh Imran Ismail, Dr. Zafar Mirza, former SAPM on health, PPP leader Saeed Ghani, and Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid. However, many of them have recovered from the disease. During the same time, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi announced he had tested positive for coronavirus and gone into self-isolation.