Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan found COVID-19 positive, hospitalised

Union Minister for Petroleum & Natural Gas and Steel Dharmendra Pradhan on Tuesday tested positive for coronavirus and has been admitted to the Medanta Hospital. The development comes two days after Union Home Minister Amit Shah tested positive for the infectious disease. 

According to reports, Pradhan had been in isolation after officials from his staff tested positive for the virus.

Dharmendra Pradhan, the 51-year-old Union Minister is the second Union Minister in India to have tested



positive for Covid-19. Others include Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Karnataka CM BS Yediyurappa and former Karnataka CM Siddharamaiah. Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit has also been diagnosed with the infection and is being treated at the privately-owned Kauvery Hospital.

On Sunday, Uttar Pradesh's Minister of Technical Education, 62-year-old Kamal Rani Varun succumbed to the infection. She was undergoing treatment for Covid-19 at the state-run Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences in Lucknow.