Bihar CM Nitish Kumar Tests Negative For Covid-19, Deputy CM Sushil Modi's Report Awaited

Bihar CM, Sushil Modi and several other ministers had met Bihar Legislative Council Acting Chairman Awdesh Narayan Singh, who has been found infected with the contagious virus, at an official event.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. (File Photo/ Getty)

Patna: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has tested negative for Coronavirus hours after he, along with several other political leaders, sent his swab sample for the test of the deadly contagion. CM Nitish Kumar, his deputy Sushil Kumar Modi, sent their swab samples for Covid-19 testing on Saturday evening after meeting a senior member of the legislative council who tested positive for Coronavirus. Meanwhile, there is no update on the test reports of Deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi and other leaders. As per reports, Bihar CM, Sushil Modi and several other ministers had met Bihar Legislative Council Acting Chairman Awdesh Narayan Singh, who has been found infected with the contagious virus, at an official event. The sample was sent to Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS) in Patna. Besides Nitish Kumar and Sushil Modi, samples of 15 staffers of the Chief Minister's Office have been collected for the Covid-19 test and the results are expected to come on Sunday. Several Janata Dal-United (JDU) leaders had shared the dais with the Council Acting Chairman during the oath ceremony of newly elected MLCs on July 1. "Nitish Kumar's swab sample has been taken today for Covid-19 test," said chief minister’s public relations officer BK Shukla. It is being said that around 50 political leaders had been identified during the contract tracing of Singh who had tested Covid-19 positive. Awadhesh Narayan Singh, his wife, two sons and daughter-in-law have also tested positive for the virus, said Singh's personal assistant Rahul Kumar who was also found to be infected. Singh was admitted to the isolation ward of All Indian Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS)- Patna for treatment after his test report came in, the hospital's nodal officer on COVID-19 Sanjeev Kumar told news agency PTI. His wife Meena Singh, elder son Anand Raman and personal assistant Kumar are also being admitted to AIIMS, while younger son Nishant Ranjan and daughter-in-law Khushbu Singh will be in home isolation. Singh and all his family members had fever, following which samples were collected on Friday by a team of the Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences. Singh is the fifth legislator in the state to have tested positive for COVID-19. Minister Vinod Kumar Singh and his wife have tested positive for the pathogen, besides BJP MLA Jibesh Kumar Mishra, Congress MLA Anand Shankar Singh and RJD MLA Shahnawaz Alam. Veteran RJD leader Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, a former Union minister, has been discharged from AIIMS after recovering from the disease.