ISLAMABAD: Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Information and Broadcasting Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan on Wednesday announced that Prime Minister Imran Khan’s coronavirus test report was negative.
In a tweet, she said Prime Minister Imran Khan was tested today for SARS-CoV-2 (the virus strain that causes coronavirus disease 2019 [COVID-19]). The test used was a polymerase chain reaction (PCR). ” I am happy to report that his test is negative,” she said.
Earlier in the day, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development Zulfi Bukhari said that Imran Khan has tested negative for coronavirus. “Khan sahab has tested negative, thank God. I don’t need to give him any suggestions […] He knows exactly who to meet and who not to meet,” said Bukhari in a video shared by PTI’s official Instagram account.
The video was later removed.
The prime minister was tested for the infection a day earlier after it emerged that Edhi Foundation chief Faisal Edhi, who had called on the premier last week to donate Rs10 million for the coronavirus relief fund, has contracted the virus.
“Prime minister will undergo Covid-19 test as he met philanthropist Faisal Edhi who later tested positive for the deadly virus,” Dr Faisal Sultan, Imran’s personal physician had said on Tuesday.
An official of the National Institute of Health (NIH) had said yesterday that as per the Standard Operating Procedure, all contacts of a confirmed Covid-19 patient should be tested. When asked about the definition of contact, he said any person who had talked to a confirmed patient for 15 minutes in a closed room or stood at a distance of fewer than six feet was called a contact.
“Though according to Faisal Edhi, he spent just a few minutes with the premier, the picture we have seen in newspapers showed that the distance between the two personalities was less than six feet. Though they did not shake hands, the virus can be transferred through cheque,” the official had said.
