Former Bangladesh PM Khalida Zia tests COVID-19positive

DHAKA: Former Bangladesh prime minister Khaleda Zia (75) has tested positive for COVID-19 today.

According to reports, the 75-year-old Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chief's samples were sent to Bangladesh's International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research for examination yesterday, which came back as positive today.

According to reports, one of Zia's relatives, who had visited her last week, had tested positive for the coronavirus.

That is why, despite the fact that she has no significant symptoms, her family took steps to get her COVID-19 test.

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However, BNP leaders failed to confirm Zia's diagnosis.

Zia, who has served thrice as the premier of Bangladesh since 1991was freed in March last year for six months on the condition that she stay at home due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Last month, the Bangladeshi government extended the sentence suspension for a second time, this time for another six months.

During her premiership from 2001 to 2006, she was sentenced to prison by a local court on charges of embezzling international donations intended for an orphanage named after her slain husband and president Ziaur Rehman.

The coronavirus has claimed 9,661 lives in Bangladesh so far, with 678,937 confirmed cases.

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