Federal Minister for Planning, Development, and Special Initiatives Asad Umar
Federal Minister for Planning, Development, and Special Initiatives Asad Umar on Monday announced that he has tested negative for COVID-19 after successfully completing his quarantine period.

"I just received my COVID-19 test results which have turned out to be negative by the mercy of Allah," Asad Umar wrote on Twitter.

He thanked all those who asked about his health and wished him a speedy recovery.

"I am grateful to all those people, who inquired about my health and prayed for me, from the bottom of my heart," the federal minister wrote.


The minister also appealed to the masses to take care of themselves and exercise precautions to stay away from the potentially-deadly virus.

"May Allah keep everyone safe," he wrote.

Asad Umar tested positive for the novel coronavirus on December 18, after which he isolated himself at home.

"Just got my Covid test result and it is positive," Asad Umar, who also heads the National Command and Operations Centre (NCOC), Pakistan's coronavirus-monitoring body, had earlier written on Twitter.

More than 100 Pakistani politicians contracted coronavirus

More than 100 Pakistani politicians, including PPP Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, PML-N president Shahbaz Sharif, Chief Minister Sindh Murad Ali Shah, Sindh Governor Imran Ismail, Chief Minister Punjab Usman Buzdar, Sindh Education Minister Saeed Ghani, and National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser, among many others, previously tested positive for coronavirus, most of whom went into self-isolation and recovered.

PTI Punjab MPA Shaheen Raza was the first lawmaker in the country who died due to COVID-19 a few months ago.

PTI MPA Mian Jamsheduddin Kakakhel from Nowshera and PML-N MPA Shaukat Manzoor Cheema from Gujranwala also passed away in June after being placed on a ventilator for a few days.

Owing to the growing number of coronavirus positive cases in the country amid the second wave of the pandemic, the government had repeatedly appealed to the Opposition to suspend its jalsas.

The Opposition, on the other hand, had refused to suspend its political gatherings and rallies and continued to demand Prime Minister Imran Khan step down before they launch a long march to Islamabad.

Pakistan reports 537 coronavirus deaths in last seven days

According to the NCOC, the novel coronavirus has claimed 1,838 lives in the past 27 days across the country.

Although the month of December saw a rapid increase in coronavirus-related deaths, a noticeable drop in new infections has been observed across the country in the last week.

A weekly analysis showed that the 20,493 cases were reported in the week that started December 6. The number of infections fell to 18,181 in the next seven days while the past week saw 14,341 coronavirus cases across the country.



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