ISLAMABAD: The vice president of the opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) party, Maryam Nawaz, has tested positive for the coronavirus, PMLN spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb said on Wednesday.
Health officials have recently warned that last week’s Muslim holiday of Eid Al-Adha and elections in Pakistan’s Azad Kashmir on July 25 — for which Nawaz and other politicians actively campaigned and held large public gatherings — could prove to be super spreader events.
“PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz Sharif’s coronavirus test returned positive after which she has quarantined herself,” her spokesperson said on Twitter.
Pakistan on Wednesday reported 4,119 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, the highest single day increase in two months, while its positivity rate shot up to 6.32 percent.
The country recently crossed the grim milestone of one million COVID-19 cases since the emergence of the pandemic in February 2020. Cases had shown a steady decline since May but have recently started to increase once more, with top officials warning of a looming fourth wave of the pandemic.
