ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Minister of State for Health Dr. Zafar Mirza said on Monday that he had tested positive for the disease.

“I have tested positive for COVID-19. Under med advice, I have isolated myself at home & taking all precautions. I have mild symptoms. Please keep me in your kind prayers,” he tweeted.

“Colleagues, keep up the good work! You are making a big difference & I am proud of you,” he said in a separate post.

Mirza is among several high-ranking officials, cabinet ministers and senior politicians to contract the virus, with Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi saying last week that he had tested positive for the disease.

The list includes opposition leader and president of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Shehbaz Sharif, Railways Minister Sheikh Rasheed, Speaker of the lower house of parliament, Asad Qaiser, and former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi.

As of Monday, Pakistan had reported 231,818 infections and 4,762 deaths from across the country, while more than 3,000 new cases are recorded every day.

This is despite authorities reinstating strict lockdown measures in select areas of several cities last month after the federal government said that the number of infections could multiply eightfold by the end of July and hit the 1.2 million mark.

Pakistan lifted its nationwide lockdown on May 9, citing economic stress, and has since seen infection rates rise from 1-in-10 tests to more than 1-in-5.