Punjab Health Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday.
According to the reports, Sidhu was feeling uncomfortable since Tuesday morning after which he got tested for the virus. Sidhu said that he had mild symptoms, including fever, following which he took a rapid antigen test that confirmed that he had coronavirus infection.
Sidhu has isolated himself at his official residence in Chandigarh.
Sidhu had attended Rahul Gandhi’s Kheti Bachao Yatra on Monday
It is pertinent to note that Sidhu was stage secretary of the tractor rally organised by the Congress party in Sangrur on Monday and had shared the stage with former Congress president Rahul Gandhi, Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh and several other state ministers.
The rally was a part of the Kheti Bachao Yatra of the Congress party to protest against the recent Agricultural Bills passed by the government in the Monsoon session of the parliament.
Significantly, the Punjab health minister while speaking to the people who had gathered for the rally on Monday, said that the masks meant to keep coronavirus pandemic at the bay hardly mattered to him. He raised his objections to the new agricultural laws passed by the Modi government.
Masks hardly matter to us: Punjab health minister Sidhu in a rally on Monday
Speaking against the recently passed farm laws, Sidhu said, “Looking at the present situation, it seems that we can control Covid cases in another 20-22 days but in front of Modi’s pandemic in form of farm laws, masks hardly matter to us.”
While all the politicians seated on the stage for Sangrur rally wore masks, a large number of people who had come to attend the rally did not wear masks or observe social distancing norms. The blatant violation of COVID-19 guidelines by the crowd, majority of which were without masks, have sounded alarm bell for the public health officials, who believe that Rahul Gandhi’s rally may prove out to be the new hotspot for the coronavirus outbreak in the state.