Speaker KP Assembly tests positive for coronavirus

PESHAWAR: Speaker Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Mushtaq Ghani has tested positive for coronavirus, becoming the latest high-profile victim in the country.

Speaker KP Assembly Mushtaq Ghani and two of his family members including daughter and son-in-law have contracted COVID-19.

Yesterday, it was revealed four senators were tested positive for the coronavirus. According to the Senate spokesperson, Senator Atta-ur-Rehman, Senator Fida Muhammad, Mirza Afridi and Senator Sana Jamali have been confirmed coronavirus positive.

On Wednesday, four legislators in the National Assembly and Senate had contracted coronavirus as the number of infections in the parliament

Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) leader Ahsan Iqbal, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) MNA Farrukh Habib, Muttahida Qaumi Movement Pakistan (MQM-P) lawmaker Usama Qadri and Senator Sana Jamali from Balochistan had been detected with coronavirus.

Moreover, 22 more workers of the Parliament’s Secretariat were infected with the virus, taking the tally of the Parliament House’s employees to more than one hundred.

Opposition leader in the National Assembly and President of PML-N Shehbaz Sharif has also confirmed to his party to have contracted the virus. Former Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed and former Health Minister for Punjab Khawaja Salman Rafiq tested positive on Monday.

Other high-profile politicians include Governor Sindh province Imran Ismail, National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser and Punjab Assembly Speaker Dost Muhammad among others.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared Pakistan at most risk to the pandemic after Afghanistan. In a letter to the government, the UN health agency suggested a two-week strict lockdown to contain the surging outbreak.