Mumbai: A minister from Uddhav Thackeray’s cabinet on Sunday tested positive for coronavirus. This is the second case in Maharashtra government with a senior NCP leader earlier contracting the virus in April.
According to sources in the government, the leader is a prominent member of the cabinet, but they refused to disclose his name. A report in India Today stated that it is former CM and current PWD minister Ashok Chavan. However, News18 could not independently verify the name.
Earlier, a senior NCP leader had been infected and had gone into self-quarantine after some aides and security personnel were found to be Covid-19 positive. A local report stated that the minister was shifted to a private hospital after he started having trouble breathing.
In the neighbouring state of Gujarat, Congress MLA Imran Khedawala had tested positive for Covid-19 last month, following which chief minister Vijay Rupani went into self-quarantine.
A senior Congress corporator and former leader of opposition in the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC), Badruddin Shaikh, 67, had succumbed to the virus after being on ventilator for more than a week. Shaikh had been hospitalised for the past 11 days.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra has recorded 3,041 Covid-19 cases, the highest daily spike, taking the state tally to 50,231. With 58 deaths due to the pandemic reported during the day, the death toll in the state rose to 1635, the official said. This was the eighth consecutive day when the state reported more than 2,000 new coronavirus cases, he said.