Pakistan's Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif tested positive for the coronavirus and was feeling unwell on Tuesday, a day after returning from London, according to the country’s information minister.
This is the third time that Sharif has tested positive for the virus. The first two times were in June 2020 and January this year. Information Minister Maryam Aurangzeb asked the nation in a tweet to pray for his speedy recovery.
Sharif traveled earlier this month to the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, where he participated in the annual UN climate summit, known as COP27, and from there went to London on a private trip to see his older brother, former prime minister Nawaz Sharif.
The elder Sharif was disqualified from running for office by the country's Supreme Court in 2017 and was convicted of hiding assets abroad and sentenced to 10 years in prison.
He has been living in exile after a Pakistani court released him on bail and allowed him to leave the country in 2019 for medical treatment abroad.
His daughter, Maryam Nawaz, was sentenced to seven years in prison in the same case, on charges related to the purchase of luxury apartments in London.
An appeals court acquitted the daughter, who is also the vice president of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League, of all charges in September.
Sharif had extended his stay in London after he developed a slight fever while he was there and returned home on Monday. He became prime minister in April after a vote of no confidence in parliament ousted his predecessor, cricket star-turned-Islamist Imran Khan.
Khan, who was injured in the leg by a gunman who attacked a protest rally in Islamabad earlier this month, has claimed his ouster was the result of a conspiracy orchestrated by Sharif and the United States — charges that both the premier and Washington have dismissed.
Follow the latest news on Google News
