Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan tests positive for COVID-19

Imran Khan, the prime minister of Pakistan, has tested positive for COVID-19.

Bushra Bibi, Khan’s wife, also tested positive, government officials said.

Last week Kahn received his first dose of China’s Sinopharm vaccine, which is the only one available in Pakistan.

Khan, 68, is “self-isolating at home,” Faisal Sultan, the country’s health minister said. He has a slight cough and fever, Khan’s spokesman Shahbaz Gill said.

Officials urged the public to not let Khan’s diagnosis discourage them from seeking out the vaccine and that the vaccine itself was safe, despite Khan’s positive test and symptoms.

“Prime Minister Imran Khan was not fully vaccinated when he contracted the virus. He only got the 1st dose and merely 2 days ago which is too soon for ANY vaccine to become effective. Anti-bodies develop 2-3 weeks after 2nd dose of 2-dose COVID vaccines. #VaccinesWork,” Pakistan’s health ministry tweeted Saturday.

Pakistan has recorded 13,799 deaths and 623,135 cases since 2020, according to data collected by Johns Hopkins University.