LAHORE: Shaheen Raza, a woman legislator from Punjab’s provincial assembly, became the first Pakistani politician to die from coronavirus on Wednesday, officials told Arab News.

Raza, 60, was elected to a special seat reserved for women in 2018 and represented the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party.

“Shaheen Raza, a PTI female MPA (Member of the Provincial Assembly), has died. She is the first member of the assembly who lost her life fighting the pandemic disease,” Abdul Qahar Rashed, spokesperson for the Punjab Assembly (PA) told Arab News.

The PA has a total strength of 371 members; 297 of whom are directly elected, with 66 seats reserved for women and eight allocated for non-Muslim citizens. 

After being diagnosed with coronavirus symptoms, Raza was admitted to a hospital in Gujranwala, 73.4 km away from Lahore, capital of the populous Punjab province, where she hailed from.

However, after her condition deteriorated last week, she was moved to the Mayo Hospital in Lahore on May 17, where she lost her life.

“Shaheena Raza was admitted to Mayo Hospital, Lahore on May 17, 2020, and was on the ventilator since then and died today (Wednesday),” Dr. Tahir Khalil, Medical Superintendent of the hospital, confirmed to Arab News.

Expressing his sorrow over her untimely demise, Punjab Chief Minister, Usman Buzdar, said Raza was a “great asset to the party.”

“It is very sad news that we have lost our colleague, Shaheen Raza. She was a great asset of the party,” a statement released by his media office said.

As of Wednesday, 1,932 people had tested positive for COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of infections to 45,898 across the country, according to data shared by the National Command and Control Center.

Out of the total count, 16,685 cases were registered from the Punjab province alone.