PML-N leader Attaullah Tarar tests positive for COVID-19

LAHORE - Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) senior leader Attaullah Tarar was diagnosed with coronavirus on Thursday.

He took the test yesterday and now the result has come back positive. He has also quarantined himself.

Meanwhile, PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif now will take test for coronavirus as a precautionary step. Sharif had earlier been tested when he returned from London and the test was negative at that time. 

Earlier, several key politicians have been contracted the virus. Recently, Awami National Party (ANP) Ghulam Ahmad Bilour has been diagnosed with the infection. Earlier, Saeed Ghani, Asad Qaiser, Ghulam Murtaza tested positive. 

On Wednesday, PTI MPA from Gujranwala Shaheen Raza died from novel coronavirus at Mayo Hospital in Lahore. 

The number of coronavirus cases in Pakistan rose to a total of 48,091 according to government data till Thursday morning, after recording over 2,193 new cases and at least 32 deaths in a single day. 

The death toll related to COVID-19 has reached 1017, according to the National Command and Control Centre, while at least 14,155 patients have fully recovered.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has reported highest number of deaths, a total of 351, while Sindh and Punjab follow with 316 and 290 fatalities respectively. Balochistan has so far recorded 38 deaths; Islamabad, 9; Gilgit Baltistan, 4; and Azad Kashmir, 1.

The first two fatalities from COVID-19, as the illness is officially known, were reported in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on March 18 (Wednesday).