Imran Khan tests negative for coronavirus

Islamabad:  Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has tested negative for the novel coronavirus, officials have confirmed, day after it emerged that he had come in contact with an individual who tested positive for the disease.

In a tweet, Khan's focal person on COVID-19 Faisal Sultan said that he was tested on Wednesday and that it found to be negative, reports Dawn news.

Khan was tested for COVID-19 after it was reported that Faisal Edhi, son of Pakistani philanthropist Abdul Sattar Edhi and chairman of the Edhi Foundation, had contracted the virus.

"Prime minister will undergo COVID-19 test as he met philanthropist Faisal Edhi who later tested positive for the deadly virus," Sultan had said on Tuesday at a news conference.

Faisal Edhi had visited the premier last week in Islamabad and handed over a cheque for 10 million PKR to the Prime Minister for his coronavirus relief fund.

An official of the National Institute of Health (NIH) had said that as per the Standard Operating Procedures, all contacts of a confirmed COVID-19 patient should be tested.

Any person who had talked to a confirmed patient for 15 minutes in a closed room or stood at a distance of less than six feet was called a contact, the official added.

The overall number of coronavirus cases in Pakistan has increased to 10,503, with 220 deaths.