How safe is PM Oli from COVID-19?

There is no need to panic about the PM's health. We have followed safety protocols while meeting him: PM’s Press Advisor Thapa

KATHMANDU, Oct 3: With three key advisors to Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli testing positive for the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), many are asking the question - how safe is PM oli from the infection at a time when several members of his kitchen cabinet have caught the virus.

PM Oli’s Chief Advisor Bishnu Rimal, Press Advisor Surya Thapa and Foreign Affairs Advisor Rajan Bhattarai announced on their social media accounts on Saturday that they had tested positive for COVID-19. Similarly, the PM’s Chief Personal Secretary Indra Bhandari and Secretariat Photographer Rajan Kafle have also tested positive for the virus. Oli’s personal physician Dr Dibya Singh Shah has already tested positive for the virus.

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However, one of the PM’s advisors has said that there is no need to panic about the PM’s health. “There is no need to panic about the health of Prime Minister K P Oli as we have strictly followed the established safety protocols in all our meetings with the prime minister,” said one of his advisors, Surya Thapa, who tested positive for the virus on Friday.

Thapa said Prime Minister Oli will also undergo a COVID-19 test soon to see if he has contracted the virus just in case. “There is no need to panic about the health of the prime minister. We have an established health safety protocol. We have always strictly followed that protocol,” Thapa told Republica.

Thapa said that they always wore masks and gloves, used hand sanitizers and maintained physical distance in their meetings with the prime minister. The remarks of Thapa come amid concerns about the health safety of the Prime Minister after all key members in his secretariat tested positive for COVID-19. 

Prime Minister Oli underwent the second kidney transplant surgery at TU Teaching Hospital in Maharajgunj earlier in March this year. 

As a part of an established procedure, Prime Minister Oli and all those visiting Baluwatar to meet him and his advisors have now been kept within the ‘contact tracing’ process. Press Advisor Thapa said that Prime Minister Oli will also undergo a COVID-19 test to see if he has caught the viral disease.