ISLAMABAD: Faisal Edhi, the head of one of Pakistan’s largest charity group Edhi Foundation, has tested positive for COVID-19.
Edhi is currently in Islamabad and had insisted on being tested since he had been on the ground working with patients. His family will also undergo tests for the virus as well.
Edhi had traveled to Lahore and then to Islamabad, where he met Prime Minister Imran Khan to make a donation for the COVID-19 relief fund on behalf of the organisation. His family said Edhi insisted on conducting the test whose result came back today as positive.
His son, Saad Edhi, told media that everyone who had come in contact with him will be tested for the virus. He said that his father was in isolation and is in constant contact with his doctor but has not been admitted in hospital.
He added that his father was currently in Islamabad and was doing better. He further said the symptoms lasted for four days before subsiding and soon after Edhi got tested for COVID-19 and the results came back positive.
Last week, Edhi had met Prime Minister Imran Khan and presented Rs10 million cheque to the Coronavirus Relief Fund on behalf of the organisation.
The Edhi Foundation has for decades stepped in to help when government services have failed communities. The charity founded by a renowned social worker, Abdul Sattar Edhi, also runs the country’s largest ambulance service.
During the ongoing outbreak, it trained dozens of staff on handling suspected coronavirus patients but providing proper protection has been a problem due to the nationwide shortage of the equipment.
Edhi runs several shelter houses, old homes, an ambulance network, orphanages, soup kitchens, morgues along with multiple other welfare services.
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