Smriti Irani tests positive for coronavirus

New Delhi, Oct 28: Union Minister Smriti Irani has tested positive for coronavirus. The MP from Amethi requested those people who came in her contact to get a COVID test at the earliest.

"It is rare for me to search for words while making an announcement; hence here's me keeping it simple - I've tested positive for #COVID and would request those who came in contact with me to get themselves tested at the earliest," Irani tweeted.

The 44-year-old actor-turned-politician had been actively campaigning for the Bihar elections, seeking votes for the National Democratic Alliance government in the state.

The new coronavirus cases reported in India in a span of 24 hours remained below 45,000, even as the total COVID-19 caseload inched closer to 80 lakh.

The country's COVID-19 caseload mounted to 79,90,322 with 43,893 fresh cases being reported in a day, while the death toll climbed to 1,20,010 with 508 new fatalities.

A total of 72,59,509 people have recuperated from COVID-19 so far, pushing the national recovery rate to 90.85 per cent, while the case fatality rate stands at 1.50 per cent.

The active cases of coronavirus infections remained below 7 lakh for six days in a row.