ISLAMABAD: Politicians and members of the Parliament (MPs) are facing a huge increase of coronavirus cases in their ranks as about 100 parliamentarians have contracted the virus in recent days, a report published by Anadolu Agency said.
Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry said one-third of the 342-member parliament tested positive.
But when Anadolu Agency contacted Hussain to confirm his comment, he said: “Yeah, it’s serious. Not exactly one-third but we are quite close to that.”
He said: “I asked for a virtual session. Opposition never agreed and now almost whole leadership of PML-N [Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz] is C+ve.”
Five senior MPs, including PML-N president Shehbaz Sharif and party’s vice president Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, tested positive for the virus recently.
Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed and former Punjab health minister Khawaja Salman Rafiq tested positive on Monday.
Other high-profile politicians infected include Sindh Governor Imran Ismail, National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser and former senior minister of northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province Inayatullah Khan, among others.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) declared Pakistan the country at most risk to the pandemic after Afghanistan.
In a letter to the government on Tuesday, the UN health agency suggested a two-week strict lockdown to contain the surging outbreak.
Responding to the WHO’s suggestion, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Health Zafar Mirza said his country made the best sovereign decisions in the best interest of the people.
“We have to make tough policy choices to strike a balance between lives and livelihoods,” he said.
Health experts see the ever-rising caseload a result of the lifting of a prolonged lockdown late last month, warning that an already weak health care system could soon crash if the tally continues to surge at the current pace.
Pakistan has reported 122,574 cases, already surpassing China and Saudi Arabia, putting it at number 15 worldwide in terms of the number of cases, according to the Health Ministry.
At least 2,394 people have died from the virus and 39,437 patients have successfully recovered.
