German FM ends Pakistan tour after testing positive for COVID-19

ISLAMABAD: German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock is cutting her visit to Pakistan short after testing positive for the coronavirus, ARY News reported on Tuesday.  

In a statement issued by her ministry, Baerbock took a test after she noticed that she had lost her sense of taste at lunch. A rapid antigen test she took in the morning had been negative, it added.

Baerbock, who met earlier Tuesday with her Pakistani counterpart in Islamabad, has cancelled all further dates of the trip, which also included stops in Greece and Turkey, the ministry added. However, it is unclear when she will return to Germany.

German news agency quoted ministry spokesman Christofer Burger as saying that a member of Baerbock’s family had tested positive on Saturday, but the minister had had little contact with that person and had tested herself frequently since then.

It is pertinent to mention here that the German Foreign Minister arrived in Islamabad on a two-day visit to hold talks with Pakistani leadership on matters of mutual interests.

On her arrival at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar and other senior officials accorded her a warm welcome.