MUMBAI:
A Maharashtra cabinet minister and senior Congress leader, who has tested positive for coronavirus, was on Monday admitted in a hospital here, a close aide said.
He became the second cabinet minister after NCP leader Jitendra Awhad to test positive for coronavirus. The minister had contracted the infection a few days back and is undergoing treatment, a Health official had said on Sunday.
The minister had attended some meetings in the last week in Mumbai before travelling back to his home district in Marathwada. Earlier on Monday, the minister left his home town for Mumbai in an ambulance, his aide said, adding that he was admitted in Breach Candy hospital here as he has been diabetic and a regular visitor at the hospital, which is located in south Mumbai.
The minister travelled a distance of 500 kms for almost 12 hours from Marathwada in the ambulance as a special chartered plane could not be arranged, the aide said. The minister was accompanied by a doctor and an attendant, he said.
“There is no separate cabin for a pilot and crew in a chartered plane. Had crew members flown to Mumbai with the minister, they would have been forced to undergo a mandatory 14-day quarantine. Nobody was ready to take that risk,” he said. He said a driver of the minister had tested positive for coronavirus a couple of days back, following which the minister isolated himself till his coronavirus test results were received.
“It was decided to shift the minister to Mumbai as his regular doctor has been attached to Breach Candy hospital,” the aide said. A video clip of the minister leaving his home district and boarding an ambulance was aired by news channels on Monday morning.
Earlier, state Housing Minister Jitendra Awhad had tested positive for coronavirus. He recovered after remaining admitted in a hospital in Mumbai for more than two weeks.
