Vice President Venkaiah Naidu, 71, announced on Tuesday evening that he has been tested positive for coronavirus. He told HT that he is doing fine and the initial tests show no major complications.

In fact, Naidu addressed an annual healthcare virtual conference on ‘Post-COVID Healthcare World’ on Tuesday evening. Within minutes after he finished addressing the Covid programme, Naidu was informed about his Covid test results. According to officials, the vice president promptly undertook additional tests.

“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,” the vice president secretariat tweeted.

The Vice President is the top Indian functionary to be tested positive for covid so far. He had frequently chaired the recently concluded monsoon session of Parliament that ran for ten days before getting adjourned on September 23 amid Covid concerns.

During the session, two union ministers – Nitin Gadkari and Prahlad Patel – and at least 30 MPs tested positive for Covid-19, prompting the authorities to cut short the session.

Naidu’s aides maintained his initial report shows that lung has not been affected and that he has no visible complication.

Addressing the healthcare conference on Tuesday, Naidu had called upon people to adapt to the new normal amid pandemic and take maximum precautions and condemned the instances of stigma and discrimination against frontline warriors and Covid-19 patients.

Calling upon people to adapt to the culture of the new normal and take all the prescribed precautions seriously to fight Covid-19 pandemic, he said that it was highly critical for the people to act responsibly and support the multifarious efforts of the government and health professionals to break the transmission of the dreaded virus.

“We simply cannot allow complacency to set in and lower our guard,” he added.