Rajnath Singh tests positive for COVID-19 with mild symptoms, under home quarantine

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday tested positive for COVID-19. Taking to his official Twitter handle, the Bharatiya Janata Party leader underlined that he is under home quarantine, and has mild symptoms. 

"I request everyone who has recently come in my contact to isolate themselves and get tested," he wrote in the tweet. India in the last 24 hours logged a single-day surge of  1,79,723 new COVID cases, With a 12.6% higher rate of infections than Sunday, the total caseload has jumped to 3,57,07,727. Meanwhile, India's total active caseload stands at 7,23,619. The active cases comprise 2.03 % of the total infections. The daily positivity rate is 13.29 %.

Notably, a high positivity rate is considered one of the first signs of an impending wave of infections. With daily multiplying cases, experts have already warned that India is likely to witness the third wave of infections soon.

Apart from Rajnath Singh, many other politicians have tested positive for COVID-19 amid hectic political rallying for 5 state elections. The list includes - Union Ministers Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Bharati Pravin Pawar, Nityanand Rai, Mahendra Nath Pandey. 

On the state level, several ministers in Bihar - Tarkishore Prasad and Renu Devi, Ashok Choudhary and Sunil Kumar and ex-CM Jitan Ram Manjhi have tested positive for COVID-19. In Maharashtra, the highest infected state - more than 10 ministers and at least 20 MLAs in the state had tested positive for COVID-19 including Education Minister Varsha Gaikwad and Women and Child Welfare Minister Yashomati Thakur.

PM Modi convenes COVID-19 review meeting

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday held a high-level review meeting on COVID-19 where he discussed the ongoing preparedness of health infrastructure and logistics amongst other developments. 

During the meeting, the PM urged officials to ensure adequate health infrastructure for COVID-19. PM Modi also urged officials to ensure continuity of non-COVID health services and leverage telemedicine to ensure the availability of health-related guidance to people in remote and rural areas.

"A meeting with CMs is likely to convene to discuss state-specific scenarios, best practices and the public health response," said PM Modi at the meeting asking officials to continue Jan Andolan focused on COVID Appropriate Behaviour (CAB).