India's interior minister hospitalized

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India's interior minister has been hospitalized after catching the new coroanvirus, making him the most senior politician in the country yet to test positive for the disease.

Amit Shah, a close aide to Prime Minsiter Narendra Modi, said he got tested after exhibiting initial symptoms of COVID-19

and urged anyone who had been in contact with him in the last few days to isolate themselves and get tested.

Shah heads a ministry which has been at the forefront of country's outbreak

- the third worst in the world behind the United States and Brazil with nearly 1.7 million confirmed cases and 36,500 deaths according to a Reuters tally.

An interior ministry spokesman said he was unable to immediately comment on when Shah had last met with Modi.

At the same time Bollywood movie star Amitabh Bachchan has been discharged from hospital.

He was admitted on July 11 after testing positive for COVID-19, but according to a tweet from his son Abhishek, his latest test came back negative.