MQM-P's lawmaker Mangla Sharma tests positive for COVID-19

KARACHI: A provincial lawmaker of Muttahida Qaumi Movement Pakistan (MQM-P), Mangla Sharma, has tested positive for COVID-19, ARY News reported on Wednesday.

The member of provincial assembly (MPA) in Sindh, Mangla Sharma, said in a statement that she and her husband underwent COVID-19 tests due to emergence of some symptoms.

Ms Sharma said they went into isolation at their residence after tested positive for the virus.

The MQM-P leader had been elected as a provincial lawmaker on a reserved seat for minorities.

Read: NA Speaker Asad Qaiser tests negative for coronavirus

Earlier in the day, two senators have also tested positive for coronavirus after they underwent the test on Tuesday as parliament is in the session to discuss the pandemic.

According to sources, the members of the upper house of the Parliament who tested positive included Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) Senator Atta Ur Rehman and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Senator Fida Muhammad.

Read: Sindh Governor Imran Ismail tests negative for COVID-19

The Senate secretariat barred the lawmakers from attending the session.

This is not the first case of the parliamentarians testing positive for coronavirus as two members of the lower house of Parliament have been diagnosed with the novel coronavirus on May 10. Syed Mehboob Shah and Gul Zafar Khan – a PTI MNA from Bajaur – tested positive for the infection.