Smriti Irani is among BJP’s star campaigner for the Bihar Assembly Elections. (PTI file photo)
Smriti Irani, the Union Minister in the Narendra Modi cabinet, on Wednesday announced that she had tested positive for Covid-19 infection. The minister, via a post on her official Twitter handle, requested anyone who has met her in recent times to get tested for the novel coronavirus infection. Irani is among BJP’s star campaigner for the Bihar Assembly Elections. She has been rallying in the state seeking votes for the NDA candidates. On October 24, she had held a couple of poll rallies in the state. Earlier, Devendra Fadanavis, the BJP’s Bihar in-charge, had also confirmed of contracting the virus. Bihar’s Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi has been admitted to the Patna AIIMS after getting positive results of corona test. BJP leaders such as Poonam Mahajan, Tejasvi Surya and Union Minister Jitendra Singh were some of those who wished for Smriti Irani on Twitter.
Ever since the first coronavirus case was reported in India, several key public figures and ministers in the Narendra Modi cabinet have confirmed about contracting Covid-19 infection. Union Home Minister Amit Shah, petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan, transport minister Nitin Gadkari, Shripad Yesso Naik, culture minister Prahlad Singh Patel are among those who had tested positive for novel coronavirus.
While the centre says that the community transmission is happening in ‘some places’, the experts feel that India needs to arrest the spread with stringent measures. Some have warned about the ‘second wave’ of the Covid-19 infection. The winter season will see a spike, the health experts have warned. While the cases and the number of deaths may have noticeably come down, there is still no respite in future. In Delhi, for example, the number of corona cases have crossed the 5,000-mark. This is a worrying trend. Overall, the national tally is nearing 80 lakh cases.