A day after arriving back from London, Pakistan’s prime minister tested positive for the coronavirus and reported feeling under the weather on Tuesday, according to the nation’s information minister.
Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif tested positive for the virus three times, the first two instances occurring in June 2020 and January of this year. In a tweet, information minister Maryam Aurangzeb pleaded with the populace to pray for his speedy recovery.
Earlier this month, Sharif traveled to the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt, where he attended the COP27 U.N. climate summit. From there, he took a private flight to London to visit his older brother, former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
The country’s Supreme Court prohibited the elder Sharif from running for office in 2017. He was also found guilty of hiding assets abroad and given a 10-year term. He has been residing in exile ever since a Pakistani court granted him a bail release in 2019 so he could travel abroad for medical care.
In the same case, Maryam Nawaz, who was charged with purchasing opulent apartments in London, received a seven-year term. A September appeals court cleared the daughter, who is also the vice president of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League, of all allegations.
After experiencing a brief fever while in London, Prime Minister Sharif decided to extend his trip. On Monday, he flew back home. After his predecessor, cricket player turned Islamist politician Imran Khan, was removed by a vote of no-confidence in Parliament, he was appointed premier in April.
Khan, who was shot in the leg by a shooter who opened fire on his protest march in Islamabad earlier this month, has claimed that Sharif and the United States conspired to remove him from office. Both the prime minister and Washington have denied these claims.
