BNP-M chief Akhtar Mengal tests positive for coronavirus

Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M) leader Akhtar Mengal announced Wednesday he had tested positive for coronavirus.

The BNP leader took to Twitter to say that he is advising everyone who interacted with him in the last few days to get tested for the virus immediately.

The politician shared the news at the time when the country is apparently facing a downward trend in the spread of the virus.

Dr Faisal Sultan, the focal person on coronavirus for Prime Minister Imran Khan, earlier attributed the daily drop in the number of tests being conducted to a decline in the COVID-19 cases being reported across the country.

Read more: Downward trend of COVID-19 main reason for reduced demand in tests: Dr Faisal Sultan

The World Health Organisation (WHO) had recommended Pakistan increase daily testing to above 50,000, but after peaking at 31,000 tests exactly a month ago, the South Asian nation tested less than 20,000 people in July.

Pakistani politicians who tested positive for COVID-19

Last month, Dr Zafar Mirza, former SAPM on health, also joined a long list of Pakistani lawmakers who had tested positive for the virus.

During the same time, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi announced he had tested positive for coronavirus and gone into self-isolation.

In June, Muttahida Qaumi Movement Pakistan (MQM-P) leader and Federal Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunications Syed Aminul Haq had also tested positive for coronavirus.

In the same month, PML-N spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb said she had tested positive.

Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, PTI MNA Jai Prakash, former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Minister of State for Narcotics Shehryar Afridi and PTI's chief whip in the National Assembly Aamir Dogar had also contracted COVID-19.

Previously, many politicians including PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif, 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 after being on the ventilator for a few days.