Pak PM Imran set to get tested for COVID-19: official

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan is set to undergo a test for the novel coronavirus on Wednesday, days after meeting a well-known philanthropist who has been detected positive for the COVID-19 infection, an official has said.

A total of 17 more people have died in Pakistan from the COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, taking the death toll to 209. The number of coronavirus cases has risen to 9,749 with 533 new infections reported as of Wednesday, the Ministry of National Health Services has said.

Advisor on Information Firdous Ashiq Awan said that the family of the Prime Minister has already tested negative.

Khan will get tested on Wednesday, Awan said.

Khan's personal physician and CEO of Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital, Faisal Sultan, told the media on Tuesday that Khan would undergo a COVID-19 test.

"Prime Minister Khan will undergo test of the coronavirus to show that he is a responsible citizen of this county.We will follow all protocols in place and make recommendations accordingly, he said.

Khan agreed for the test after Faisal Edhi, the son of late philanthropist Abdul Sattar Edhi and chairman of the Edhi Foundation, met him last week, and has now tested positive for the coronavirus.

Saad, the son of Faisal Edhi, told the Dawn newspaper on Tuesday that his father started showing symptoms last week, soon after meeting Khan in Islamabad on April 15.

"The symptoms lasted for four days before subsiding," Saad said.

Faisal Edhi had met Prime Minister Khan to hand over a Rs 10 million cheque for the premier's coronavirus relief fund.

The Edhi Foundation was founded by the late Abdul Sattar Edhi and is the leading charity organisation in Pakistan.

Khan will participate in an event on Thursday organised to collect donations to fight the COVID-19 pandemic in the country.

Pakistan's Punjab province has reported 4,328 cases, Sindh has 3,053, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa 1,345, Balochistan 495, Gilgit-Baltistan 284, Islamabad 194 and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir 51 patients.

So far, 118,020 tests have been done nationwide, including 5,647 in the last 24 hours.

Meanwhile, at least 492 Pakistanis, including 92 women, stranded in Afghanistan due to coronavirus pandemic have returned to their country from the Torkham border.

Officials said another 111 children, not registered with them as stranded persons but travelling with their parents, mostly mothers, were also allowed to enter Pakistan, the Dawn newspaper reported.