Pakistan PM tests positive for Covid-19

A day after returning from London, Pakistan’s prime minister tested positive for the coronavirus and reported feeling under the weather.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif tested positive for the virus three times, the first two occasions being in June 2020 and January of this year.

Marriyum Aurangzeb, the information minister, urged the country to pray for the 71-year-old leader’s speedy recovery in a tweet on Tuesday.

Earlier this month, Sharif travelled to the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, where he took part in the COP27 annual United Nations climate meeting. From there, Sharif made a private journey to London to visit his older brother, former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

The country’s Supreme Court prohibited the older Sharif from running for parliament in 2017. He was also found guilty of hiding assets overseas and given a 10-year term. He has been residing in exile ever since a Pakistani court granted him a bail release in 2019 so he could travel overseas for medical care.

In the same case, Maryam Nawaz, who was charged with purchasing opulent properties in London, received a seven-year term. A September appeals court cleared the daughter, who is also the vice president of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League, of all allegations.

Prime Minister Sharif had extended his London stay after feeling a slight fever while there and returned home on Monday. He became the premier in April after a no-confidence vote in parliament removed his predecessor, cricket star-turned-politician Imran Khan.