3.8.20

Covid-19: Amit Shah tests positive


Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit have tested positive for coronavirus, the latest among prominent public figures in the country to have contracted Covid-19, while Uttar Pradesh minister Kamal Rani Verma succumbed to the infection on Sunday.

Taking to Twitter, 55-year-old Shah said he had undergone a coronavirus test after showing initial symptoms “My health is fine, but I am getting admitted to a hospital on the advice of doctors,” he tweeted in Hindi and urged those who had come in contact with him in the last few days to get tested for coronavirus and isolate themselves.

The last known public function which Shah attended was on Saturday at the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts where he addressed a webinar on the occasion of the 100th death anniversary of Bal Gangadhar Tilak. About 50 people were physically present at the event.

Government sources said the home minister was also present at the last meeting of the Union Cabinet held on Wednesday by following strict social-distancing norms along with wearing of masks. Several politicians including Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, DMK chief MK Stalin, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and BJP president JP Nadda, were among those who wished Shah a speedy recovery.

In Uttar Pradesh, Kamal Rani Varun (pictured above), the only woman cabinet minister in the state, died of Covid-19 at a hospital in Lucknow on Sunday. She was 62. The technical education minister, who tested positive for the virus on July 18, breathed her last at the Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences.

She had comorbidities, including diabetes, hypertension and hyperthyroidism, a senior doctor at the hospital said.

Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit tested positive for Covid-19, but has been advised home quarantine since his infection was mild, the Kauvery Hospital in Chennai said on Sunday. The 80-year old Purohit was in self-isolation since July 29 after three people in the Raj Bhavan tested positive for the coronavirus.

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