Pakistan’s prime minister tested positive for the coronavirus a day after returning from London, according to the country’s information minister.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif tested positive for the virus for the third time; the previous two instances were in June 2020 and January of this year.
Sharif traveled to the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh earlier this month to attend the annual United Nations climate meeting, known as COP27, and then to London on a private trip to visit his elder brother, former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
The older Sharif was barred from standing for office in 2017 by the country’s Supreme Court, and he was convicted of hiding assets overseas and sentenced to ten years in prison. He has been living in exile since a Pakistani court granted him bail and permitted him to leave the country for medical treatment overseas in 2019.
In the same case, his daughter, Maryam Nawaz, was sentenced to seven years in prison on charges related to the purchase of expensive flats in London. In September, an appeals court acquitted the daughter, who is also the vice president of the governing Pakistan Muslim League.
وزیراعظم شہباز شریف کورونا پازیٹو ہوگئے ہیں۔ دو روز سے طبیعت ناساز تھی۔ ڈاکٹر کے مشورے سے آج کرونا ٹیسٹ کروایا گیا عوام اور کارکنان سے وزیراعظم کی جلد صحت یابی کی دعا کی اپیل ہے۔
— Marriyum Aurangzeb (@Marriyum_A) November 15, 2022
