Union Minister Smriti Irani tests positive for COVID-19

Irani tweeted on Wednesday, "It is rare for me to search for words while making an announcement; hence here's me keeping it simple — I've tested positive for COVID."

The 44-year-old Minister requested those who had come in contact with her to get tested for the viral disease at the earliest.

Irani did not state whether she had been admitted to a hospital.

Recently, the BJP's Bihar poll in-charge and former Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, and Bihar Deputy CM Sushil Modi had also tested positive.

Since the pandemic began, Union Ministers Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari, Shripad Naik, Dharmendra Pradhan, Kailash Choudhary, Arjun Ram Meghwal, Gajendra Shekhawat have also contracted the infection and recovered, while Union Minister Suresh Angadi died after getting infected.

As of 8 am on Wednesday, India reported a total of 79,90,322 COVID-19 cases, after witnessing a spike of 43,893 infections in a day, the Union Health Ministry's data showed.

The death toll also rose to 1,20,010 with 508 more deaths in a day.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, 72,59,509 people have recovered after contracting the virus, while 6,10,803 cases involve active infections.