Himachal Pradesh assembly speaker tests positive for Covid; total cases cross 18,000 mark

SHIMLA: Himachal Pradesh assembly speaker Vipin Singh Parmar tested positive for Covid-19 on Wednesday. The state reported one Covid death along with 246 new cases while 232 patients recovered in last 24 hours.
Before Parmar, chief minister Jai Ram Thakur and technical education minister Ram Lal Markanda and urban development minister Suresh Bhardwaj had tested positive, while Jal Shakti minister Mahender Singh Thakur and power minister Sukh Ram Chaudhary who had tested positive have recovered now.
Sources said that earlier the PSO of the speaker was tested positive after which his sample was taken at Shimla on returning from Kangra it was tested positive.
The state has till date reported 18,008 positive cases of which 2520 cases are active, 15,217 patients have recovered, 250 patients have died while 16 have migrated out of the state.
Positive cases reported include 15 from Bilaspur district, 9 from Chamba district, 11 from Hamirpur district, 16 from Kangra district, 34 from Kullu district, 5 from Lahaul-Spiti district, 34 from Mandi district, 54 from Shimla district, 27 from Sirmaur district, 37 from Solan district and 4 from Una district.
Those recovered include 22 from Bilaspur district, 7 from Chamba district, 14 from Hamirpur district, 45 from Kangra district, 51 Kullu district, 5 from Lahaul-Spiti district, 27 from Mandi district, 33 from Shimla district, 19 from Solan district and 9 from Una district.
Total 3,33,134 persons have been tested for Covid-19 in Himachal Pradesh till Wednesday of which 314946 persons have been tested negative while results of 180 samples are awaited.