UP minister, who attended party with singer Kanika Kapoor, tests negative for coronavirus

Lucknow, Mar 21: Uttar Pradesh Health Minister Jai Pratap Singh, who had attended a party with Bollywood singer Kanika Kapoor days before she tested positive for coronavirus, tested negative for COVID-19 on Saturday, the King George Medical University here said.

The 66-year-old minister had gone into self-isolation after undergoing the testing here on Friday, soon after Kapoor announced that she had tested positive for coronavirus.

"Uttar Pradesh Health Minister Jai Pratap Singh has tested negative for COVID-19," KGMU spokesperson Dr Sudhir Singh said. "Samples of 28 people who came in contact with him have also tested negative," he said. Jai Pratap Singh told PTI that he received a call from the KGMU vice chancellor informing him that his tests came back negative.

"I have tested negative for COVID-19. My entire family has tested negative (for COVID-19). Five members of my family were tested and all of them have tested negative," he said.

He and his family, however, have been advised to stay at home for the next 14 days, the minister said. On Thursday, Singh was in Greater Noida to address a press conference to talk about the BJP-led state government's achievements over the past three years.

Three MLAs -- Pankaj Singh, Dhirendra Singh and Tejpal Nagar, some administrative officials and several journalists who were present at the press conference also went into self-isolation after it became known that the minister had come in contact with Kapoor. Kapoor, who became the first Bollywood celebrity to test positive for coronavirus, landed in Lucknow from the United Kingdom and was admitted to a city hospital after she showed signs of flu.

Before she tested positive for COVID-19, she attended three parties in Lucknow. Nearly 300 people attended these parties, her father Rajiv Kapoor had said on Friday.