Pakistani PM tests positive for COVID-19

By Trend

Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has tested positive for COVID-19, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health Faisal Sultan said on social media, Trend reports citing Xinhua.

The Ministry of National Health Service, Regulations and Coordination said on social media that the prime minister was not fully vaccinated when he contracted the virus.

He only got the first dose and merely two days ago which is too soon for any vaccine to become effective, said the ministry, adding that anti-bodies develop two to three weeks after the 2nd dose of the two-dose COVID vaccines.

Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan (L) receives a dose of COVID-19 vaccine in Islamabad, Pakistan, March 18, 2021. (Press Information Department of Pakistan/Handout via Xinhua)

Asad Umar, chairman of the country's National Command and Operation Center (NCOC), told Xinhua "He (Khan) got vaccinated on Thursday evening and felt some signs of the disease on the next day, so obviously he was infected before being vaccinated because the COVID-19 symptoms take a few days to manifest."

Umar, who is also the minister for planning, development and special initiative, highlighted the need of vaccination for the public and urged all eligible people to receive vaccine provided by the government as soon as possible.

Pakistan is facing a serious third wave of the virus and the government is taking steps to ensure the standard operating procedures to control the spread of the virus.