Ayaz Sadiq also joins the COVID-19+ race

By Sheerein Sheikh

ISLAMABAD: Former National Assembly speaker Ayaz Sadiq has become the latest PML-N leader to test positive for the coronavirus, announced party spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb on Friday. The PML-N stated that Sadiq has gone into quarantine in his home after testing positive for the virus.
The announcement comes a day after Aurangzeb announced that party president and Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif had also tested positive for coronavirus. Earlier this week, PML-N Secretary-General Ahsan Iqbal also tested positive for coronavirus. “I request my friends and well-wishers to pray for my quick recovery,” Iqbal had written on Twitter. “May God keep everyone safe from this pandemic,” he added.
PML-N spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb has also tested positive for the coronavirus along with her mother, it emerged this week. Sadiq and others have joined a long list of lawmakers who have tested positive for the virus, including former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and PTI MPA from Sindh Khurrum Sher Zaman.
On Monday, Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed and PTIA MNA Jai Prakash contracted the infection.
On Sunday, PPP MPA Sharjeel Memon announced he had tested positive for coronavirus and had gone into self-isolation. Memon is the Sindh government’s focal person for coronavirus in Hyderabad and also attended the provincial assembly session a few days ago.
Last week, PML-N Punjab Assembly lawmaker Mian Naveed Ali from Pakpattan had tested positive for coronavirus. Earlier, Minister of State for Narcotics Shehryar Afridi also tested positive for the virus joining a long list of lawmakers to contract the coronavirus in Pakistan. PTI’s chief whip in the National Assembly Aamir Dogar also tested positive for coronavirus.
Previously, many politicians including ANP’s Ghulam Ahmad Bilour, Sindh Governor Imran Ismail, Sindh education minister Saeed Ghani, National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser, and Punjab Assembly Deputy Speaker Dost Muhammad Mazari had tested positive for coronavirus, after which they went into self-isolation and recovered.
PTI Punjab Member of Provincial Assembly (MPA) Shaheen Raza was the first lawmaker in the country to succumb to the virus. PTI MPA Mian Jamsheduddin Kakakhel from Nowshera and PML-N MPA Shaukat Manzoor Cheema from Gujranwala also passed away earlier this month after being on the ventilator for a few days.

29 prisoners at Adiala Jail get the bug

RAWALPINDI: A doctor and 29 prisoners of Adiala Jail have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, source said on Friday. Sources in the Adiala jail have expressed fear of rapid spread of the virus in the jail. The countrywide tally of coronavirus cases has surged to 125,933 with 40,247 patients having cured of the disease and 2,463 virus-related deaths.
According to data released by the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC), so far, 47,382 cases have been detected in Punjab, 46,828 in Sindh, 15,787 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 7,673 in Balochistan, 6,699 in Islamabad, 534 in Azad Jammu and Kashmir and 1,030 in Gilgit Baltistan.
With record 107 more Covid-19 related fatalities recorded over the past 24 hours, the number of people succumbing to the disease in the country has jumped to 2,463 so far. A total of 6,397 new cases were detected when 28,247 new tests were conducted during this period. The number of people defeating the deadly virus has reached 40,247. So far, 809,169 tests have been conducted across the country.

Four senators also test corona positive

ISLAMABAD: Four senators were tested positive for the coronavirus on Friday. According to the Senate of Pakistan spokesperson, Senator Atta-ur-Rehman, Senator Fida Muhammad, Mirza Afridi and Senator Sana Jamali have been confirmed coronavirus positive.
This is not the first time that parliamentarians have tested positive for coronavirus as two members of the lower house of Parliament had been diagnosed with the novel coronavirus on May 10. Syed Mehboob Shah and Gul Zafar Khan – a PTI MNA from Bajaur – tested positive for the infection.
On April 30, the National Assembly (NA) Speaker Asad Qaiser had tested positive for coronavirus and went into isolation at his residence. He, however, recovered completely from it on May 12. The speaker was discharged from the hospital after he tested negative and an improvement in his health condition was witnessed. He had also expressed his gratitude towards his well-wishers who prayed for his early recovery.