Vice President M. Venkiah Naidu, who had presided over proceedings of the Rajya Sabha in the recently-concluded Monsoon Session, has tested positive for coronavirus, it was announced on Tuesday. The Vice President's Secretariat, in a tweet, said that the Vice President, who underwent a routine COVID-19 test on Tuesday morning, has tested positive.
"..He is however, asymptomatic and in good health. He has been advised home quarantine. His wife Smt. Usha Naidu has been tested negative and is in self-isolation," it said. Naidu has become the highest constitutional authority to test positive for COVID-19.
The Vice President of India who underwent a routine COVID-19 test today morning has been tested positive. He is however, asymptomatic and in good health. He has been advised home quarantine. His wife Smt. Usha Naidu has been tested negative and is in self-isolation.
— Vice President of India (@VPSecretariat) September 29, 2020
With a spike of 70,589 coronavirus cases and 776 deaths in 24 hours, India's tally on Tuesday breached the 61 lakh-mark to reach 61,45,291 cases. Out of these, 9,47,576 are currently active; 51,01,397 have been discharged, while 96,318 have succumbed to the virus.
Some union ministers have tested positive for COVID in the recent past. Minister of State for Railways Suresh Angadi became the first union minister to succumb to the virus.
Earlier this week, it was announced that the overall number of coronavirus cases globally, had surpassed 33.2 million, while the deaths had increased to more than 10,00,820, according to the Johns Hopkins University. As of Tuesday, the total number of cases stood at 33,273,720 and the fatalities rose to 1,000,825, the University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed in its latest update.
The US is the worst-hit country with the world's highest number of cases and deaths at 7,147,751 and 205,062, respectively, according to the CSSE. India comes in the second place in terms of cases.
With IANS and PTI inputs