MHA says Shah not tested after Tiwari’s post causes confusion

MANOJ TIWARI TWEETED THAT AMIT SHAH HAS TESTED NEGATIVE FOR COVID-19 ON SUNDAY , BUT AN OFFICIAL OF THE MHA DISMISSED THE CLAIM. TIWARI LATER DELETED THE POST

NEW DELHI: The ministry of home affairs (MHA) on Sunday denied a claim by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member of Parliament Manoj Tiwari that the Union home minister, Amit Shah, who has tested positive for the coronavirus disease last week, had tested negative this morning.

Hours after Tiwari tweeted that the home minister’s latest report had stated he had tested negative, an MHA official issued a clarification saying that no fresh test has been done on Shah and so, “unconfirmed” reports should be avoided.

“Nothing other than the official health bulletin released either by the treating hospital, MHA or his own Twitter feed should be referred to,” a government official said, requesting anonymity.

Manoj Tiwari, who is a former BJP president in Delhi, also deleted his tweet later.

The Union home minister had tested positive for Covid-19 last Sunday and was admitted to the Medanta Hospital in Gurugram. Shah had himself announced the news on Twitter.

“After showing initial symptoms, I underwent a test for coronavirus and the report came out positive. My health is fine but I am being admitted to the hospital on the advice of doctors,” Shah had posted last Sunday.

Officials familiar with Shah’s schedule said that he is working from hospital and is clearing the files. Shah has also been regularly tweeting the government’s achievements.

On Sunday, he praised the government’s decision to put 101 items on embargo to boost Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan’ (self-reliant India movement) in defence production.

“Modi govt’s decision of import embargo on 101 items and a separate budget for domestic capital procurement of nearly Rs 52,000 crore for the current financial year will surely provide a major boost to the indigenous defence sector. I thank PM @NarendraModi & RM @RajnathSingh for this historic decision,” the home minister tweeted.

He also said the move to ban the import of 101 items would open up new avenues for the Indian defence sector as contracts worth ₹4,00,000 crore would be given to defence equipment manufacturers.

Officials cited above said the minister is recovering at present and another test will be conducted in a couple of days.