Lahore (NUT DESK) – Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan tested positive for Covid-19 on Saturday, officials said, just two days after he received his first vaccination against the disease. The 68-year-old former top cricketer received a shot of the Chinese-produced Sinopharm vaccine on Thursday, as the country battles a third wave of the virus. “At this point, the prime minister´s office can only confirm that the honourable prime minister has tested positive for Covid-19 and has self-isolated,” his office said. Khan was suffering from a mild cough and a mild fever, his spokesman Shahbaz Gill later added, saying the positive test was conducted on Saturday. His aides were quick to put distance between the diagnosis and his first jab of the two-dose vaccine. “Please do not link it to the corona vaccine. Immunity develops a few weeks after the vaccine is given. Make sure to vaccinate your elders and loved ones. Be careful,” Gill added.
Senator Shibli Faraz on Saturday extended his prayers and best wishes to Prime Minister Imran Khan after he tested positive for COVID-19. The entire nation prays for the speedy recovery of Prime Minister, he tweeted. “May Almighty Allah bless him with good health soon,”he said urging the people to strictly adhere to sops (standard operating procedures) to save themselves from third wave of Covid-19 pandemic.
Khan was probably infected before he got the vaccine shot, during a series of public engagements this week, information minister Shibli Faraz told media. Earlier Saturday, the leader´s adviser on health Faisal Sultan said the increase in positive virus cases over the past few days was “alarming”.He said there was a “quite visible” burden on the healthcare system, particularly in the country´s most populous province of Punjab. Case numbers began to rise again in recent weeks, soon after the UK variant was first reported in Karachi in late December.
