Ayaz Sadiq becomes latest PML-N leader to test positive for COVID-19

Former National Assembly speaker Ayaz Sadiq has become the latest PML-N leader to test positive for the coronavirus, announced party spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb on Friday.

The PML-N stated that Sadiq has gone into quarantine in his home after testing positive for the virus.

The announcement comes a day after Aurangzeb announced that party president and Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif had also tested positive for coronavirus.

Earlier this week, PML-N Secretary-General Ahsan Iqbal also tested positive for coronavirus.

"I request my friends and well-wishers to pray for my quick recovery," Iqbal had written on Twitter.

"May God keep everyone safe from this pandemic," he added.

PML-N spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb has also tested positive for the coronavirus along with her mother, it emerged this week.

Sadiq and others have joined a long list of lawmakers who have tested positive for the virus, including former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and PTI MPA from Sindh Khurrum Sher Zaman.

On Monday, Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed and PTIA MNA Jai Prakash contracted the infection.

On Sunday, PPP MPA Sharjeel Memon announced he had tested positive for coronavirus and had gone into self-isolation.

Memon is the Sindh government’s focal person for coronavirus in Hyderabad and also attended the provincial assembly session a few days ago.

Last week, PML-N Punjab Assembly lawmaker Mian Naveed Ali from Pakpattan had tested positive for coronavirus.

Earlier, Minister of State for Narcotics Shehryar Afridi also tested positive for the virus joining a long list of lawmakers to contract the coronavirus in Pakistan. PTI's chief whip in the National Assembly Aamir Dogar also tested positive for coronavirus.

Previously, many politicians including ANP’s Ghulam Ahmad Bilour, Sindh Governor Imran Ismail, Sindh education minister Saeed Ghani, National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser, and Punjab Assembly Deputy Speaker Dost Muhammad Mazari had tested positive for coronavirus, after which they went into self-isolation and recovered.

PTI Punjab Member of Provincial Assembly (MPA) Shaheen Raza was the first lawmaker in the country to succumb to the virus.

PTI MPA Mian Jamsheduddin Kakakhel from Nowshera and PML-N MPA Shaukat Manzoor Cheema from Gujranwala also passed away earlier this month after being on the ventilator for a few days.