PML-N's Shahid Khaqan Abbasi tests positive for COVID-19

Former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has tested positive for the coronavirus, reported Geo News on Monday.

Family sources told Geo News, the PML-N leader was tested yesterday for the virus, the result of which were obtained today. Sources added that Abbasi was isolating at his residence.

PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif and Punjab government spokesperson Musarrat Cheema prayed for Abbasi's speedy recovery.

A day earlier, PPP MPA Sharjeel Memon announced he had tested positive for coronavirus and had gone into self-isolation.

Last week, PML-N Punjab Assembly lawmaker Mian Naveed Ali from Pakpattan had tested positive for coronavirus.

Naveed had told Geo News during a telephonic conversation that his health had deteriorated over the past few days. After experiencing symptoms of the virus, including fever, he got himself tested.

Earlier, Minister of State for Narcotics Shehryar Afridi tested positive for the virus joining a long list of lawmakers to contract the coronavirus in Pakistan. PTI's chief whip in the National Assembly Aamir Dogar also tested positive for coronavirus.

Previously, many politicians including ANP’s Ghulam Ahmad Bilour, Sindh Governor Imran Ismail, Sindh education minister Saeed Ghani, National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser, and Punjab Assembly Deputy Speaker Dost Muhammad Mazari had tested positive for coronavirus, after which they went into self-isolation and recovered.

PTI Punjab Member of Provincial Assembly (MPA) Shaheen Raza was the first lawmaker in the country to succumb to the virus.

PTI MPA Mian Jamsheduddin Kakakhel from Nowshera and PML-N MPA Shaukat Manzoor Cheema from Gujranwala also passed away earlier this month after being on the ventilator for a few days.

The country has reported more than 103,000 cases of the virus and recorded more than 2,050 deaths. The death rate in the country has shot up exponentially in the last few days following the government's announcement to ease the lockdown.