Pakistan’s prime minister, cricket legend Imran Khan, tested positive for COVID-19 – two days after receiving his first dose of vaccine, officials announced.
The 68-year-old leader was in good health with a mild cough and fever and was self-isolating at home, his special assistant for health, dr. Faisal Sultan, said in announce the infection on Saturday.
The wife of the prime minister and two senior members of his Tehreek-e-Insaf (Justice) party also tested positive, Sultan announced on Sunday.
Khan – who regularly attended meetings without wearing a mask – had just shot his first vaccination on Thursday.
Key members of his government have urged citizens to continue the vaccination amid fears that the news of the leader’s illness will only increase the general hesitation in Pakistan over the shots.
‘The symptoms take a few days before they manifest. Therefore, it is certain that the prime minister was infected before the vaccination, ‘Asad Umar, the minister of COVID-19, said in a tweet.
“So vaccination,” he wrote.
Although it has not been announced which vaccine Khan was given, the shot manufactured by China National Pharmaceutical Group – Sinopharm – is the only one officially available in Pakistan.
According to media reports, a private Pakistani pharmaceutical company imported 50,000 doses of Russian Sputnik V vaccine, according to The Associated Press.
Pakistan has a severe increase in COVID-19 cases in the capital and in the eastern and northern areas. Authorities on Sunday reported 44 new deaths and 3,667 new confirmed infections.
Overall, the virus has killed nearly 14,000 people in Pakistan and infected more than 626,000 people.
With Post Wires