Hafeez Sheikh tests positive for COVID-19

Hafeez Sheikh, the former finance minister, has tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday.

Newly-appointed Finance Minister Hammad Azhar shared the update on Dr. Sheikh’s health in a tweet.

He said he had “just found out that Dr. Hafeez Sheikh has tested positive for Covid-19”.

“I pray for his swift recovery and good health. Ameen,” Azhar wrote.

Sheikh was appointed Advisor on Finance in 2019, amid a cabinet reshuffle, after Minister for Finance Asad Umar tendered in his resignation.

Abdul Hafeez Sheikh could have held the post of finance minister till June this year, but it was a day ago, the federal government decided to remove him.

The federal government removed Sheikh and appointed Azhar as the new finance minister on March 29.

A day earlier, the President of Pakistan Dr. Arif Alvi, and Defence Minister Pervaiz Khattak had also tested for COVID-19.

Prime Minister’s Special Assistant on Health Dr. Faisal Sultan in a statement said that the third wave of Coronavirus is more severe and patients are coming with COVID-19 infection in hospitals in Islamabad, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, and other areas of the country.

In the last 24 hours Islamabad has reported  754 cases, and 2 coronavirus deaths.