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Coronavirus: Pakistan PM Imran Khan to be tested
India presidential palace isolates 500; Afghan leader Ghani tests negative
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan. File photo
Reuters, Islamabad/ New Delhi
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan will undergo testing after it was confirmed that he met a man, who was later found to have contracted coronavirus.
Khan had last week met the head of the country's biggest charity organisation, Faisal Edhi, who had contracted Covid-19, as the coronavirus spreading through South Asia hit the heart of the region's governments.
Edhi, the charity group leader diagnosed with Covid-19, said he had met PM Khan last week to hand him a cheque to help fund the nation's fight against the coronavirus.
Neither was wearing a mask in the picture the government released after the meeting in Islamabad.
During a televised briefing today, Dr Faisal Sultan, the prime minister's personal physician, who is also the country's focal person for Covid-19, said Khan would undergo testing. Khan was present at the briefing too.
The prime minister has held a number of meetings over the last few days, including chairing a cabinet meeting. He met the president and intelligence chief a day earlier.
Pakistan has relaxed its lockdown to allow essential industries and services to resume operations. It also lifted restrictions on mosque congregations as the Muslim holy month of Ramadan starts later this week.
Meanwhile in India, about 500 people entered self-isolation in staff quarters of the country's presidential palace today.
The alarm was raised at President Ram Nath Kovind's residence in Delhi after the daughter-in-law of a sanitation worker living in employee quarters tested positive.
Neither Kovind, 74, nor his aides, would self-isolate as they would not have come into contact with lower-level workers, officials said. The president has a mostly ceremonial role.
The families of palace workers living in 114 apartments on the grounds were ordered to stay inside, and seven members of the sanitation worker's family were moved to quarantine.
Indian authorities have confirmed 18,984 cases of Covid-19, including 603 deaths, a low toll compared with Western countries with much smaller populations, though officials say a lack of testing may mean many more cases have not been reported.
An employee of India's parliament has also tested positive, but did not come to work, an official said. The administrative wing of the legislature reopened on Monday as part of a staggered exit from the lockdown.
While the total number of confirmed infections is rising, Indian health officials said the speed of transmission was slowing thanks to the lockdown, in place until May 3.
The "doubling rate" -- the number of days it takes infections to multiply by two -- had increased to 7.5 days, up from 3.4 days before the lockdown, health ministry joint secretary Lav Agarwal said. "This is an extremely positive trend," he said.
In Afghanistan, President Ashraf Ghani and his wife tested negative for the coronavirus, his spokesman said, after at least 20 palace officials were infected last week.
Ghani, 70, had limited most of his contact with staff to digital communication after some came down with Covid-19.
"The president is healthy and is leading government efforts on all fronts. All precautions are in place to make sure his work environment is safe and healthy," his spokesman, Sediq Sediqqi, said on Twitter.
