Amit Shah tests positive for Covid-19

India’s Interior Minister Amit Shah on Sunday tested positive for Covid-19, reports Indian Express.

“My health is fine but I am being admitted to the hospital on advice of doctors. I request all of you who have come in contact with me in the last few days to please isolate yourself and get your inquiry done,” he said in a tweet.

With nearly 55,000 new cases (54,736), the number of confirmed infections in India crossed the 17-lakh mark on Sunday. The country recorded a jump of over 1.5 lakh cases in the past three days. As many as 853 casualties took place in the last 24 hours, pushing the death toll to 37,364. Of the 17,50,724 cases, 5,67,730 are active cases, while 11,45,630 have been cured.

The World Health Organisation, has meanwhile, said that the said it expects the Covid-19 pandemic to be of “lengthy duration” and that it remains “a public health emergency of international concern.” “The pandemic is a once-in-a-century health crisis, the effects of which will be felt for decades to come,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was quoted as telling panel. Globally, there are nearly 18 million infections, while over 6.84 lakh people have succumbed to covid-19.