COVID-19: 4 staff from Pakistan PM House test positive

Islamabad: Four staff members of the Prime Minister’s House have tested positive for COVID-19, raising alarm bells among authorities and prompting the health department to conduct tests en masse of the entire staff of the PM House and keep record of their contacts.

This is the second time coronavirus cases have been reported from the PM House. In April, the head of Pakistan’s largest charity network, Edhi Foundation, Faisal Edhi tested positive within seven days of meeting Prime Minister Imran Khan whom he had presented a cheque of Rs10 million (Dh 224,389) for Prime Minister’s Corona Relief Fund. He was quarantined after the test result and was discharged only this month when he tested negative.

After Edhi’s visit, Khan volunteered himself to undergo test for coronavirus and tested negative.

This time, however, the staff members of Prime Minister’s office have tested positive which, according to health authorities and the district administration, could result in temporary evacuation for disinfection.

“CDA and District Administration initiated a survey and each corner and department of the building is being disinfected with anti-coronavirus spray,” an official of the district administration told Gulf News.

Meanwhile, Special Assistant to Prime Minister Dr Shehbaz Gill also confirmed detection of virus in the PM House staff. “Those who tested positive have been quarantined. All other precautionary measures have been initiated and standard operating procedures (SOPs) being followed,” he posted on his twitter account.

This was a routine activity and coronavirus tests were in the Prime Minister’s Office like other government offices and departments. There is nothing unusual in this, said Gill in his tweet.

He made it clear the officials who tested positive were not in direct contact with any important personality during recent days.

Earlier, Pakistan’s Parliament House also reported coronavirus cases among the Members of the National Assembly and the Senate.

Pakistan now has more than 40,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus with 873 deaths so far. The number of those recovered is 11,341.