Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar tests positive for coronavirus
Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said on Monday that he has tested positive for the novel coronavirus. The 66-year-old asked his close contacts to go into strict quarantine immediately.
Khattar is the third sitting state CM to have tested positive for the coronavirus after Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Karnataka CM BS Yediyurappa.
Here are more details.
'My report has returned positive,' tweeted Khattar
Taking to Twitter on Monday, Khattar said, "I was tested for Novel Corona Virus today. My test report has returned positive."
The CM requested his colleagues and associates to get tested for the virus if they had come into contact with him.
He also asked all of his close contacts to go into a strict quarantine immediately.
You can view Khattar's tweet here
I was tested for Novel Corona Virus today. My test report has returned positive.
— Manohar Lal (@mlkhattar) August 24, 2020
I appeal to all colleagues and associates who came in my contact over the last week to get themselves tested. I request my close contacts to move into strict quarantine immediately.
Khattar had recently come in contact with those infected
Earlier, Khattar had isolated himself since he had come in close contact with Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, who had been found infected.
Kurukshetra MP Naib Singh Saini, who recently met Khattar, has also tested positive.
Khattar was tested for the virus, but the result was negative on Thursday. The CM had decided to go into home isolation regardless as a precautionary measure.
Several prominent politicians have contracted the virus
As the outbreak continues to get worse in India, several prominent politicians have contracted the virus. Union Ministers Amit Shah, Dharmendra Pradhan, Kailash Chaudhary; Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit; Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain; Karnataka Health Minister B Sriramulu; among others have been infected.
Uttar Pradesh Minister Kamal Rani Varun and DMK MLA J Anbazhagan also died after contracting the virus.
How bad is the outbreak in India?
According to the Union Health Ministry, as of 8 am on Monday, India had reported a total of 31,06,348 cases after witnessing a spike of 61,408 infections in the past 24 hours.
This makes India the third worst-hit nation in the outbreak in the world after the United States and Brazil.
The total cases include 57,542 deaths, 7,10,771 active cases, and 23,38,035 recoveries.
Haryana reports 54,386 cases, 603 deaths
As of Sunday, Haryana had reported a total of 54,386 COVID-19 cases, out of which, 44,822 patients have recovered. The death toll is 603. After witnessing a record spike of 1,203 cases on Friday, daily new cases in the state have remained above 1,000.
