Indian state chief minister tests positive for COVID-19

NEW DELHI, March 22 (Xinhua) -- Chief Minister of India's northern hilly state of Uttarakhand Tirath Singh Rawat said on Monday that he tested positive for COVID-19.

"I have tested positive for COVID-19. I am fine and facing no difficulty. I have self-isolated myself under the observation of doctors. Those who came in my contact over the past few days should take precautions and get themselves tested, " he tweeted.

Rawat was earlier this month sworn in as the chief minister of his state.

India has recently seen a spike in the pandemic cases.

On Sunday evening it was confirmed that parliament Speaker Om Birla had tested positive for COVID-19. He is at the COVID center in Delhi-based All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) for observation.

As many as 46,951 new COVID-19 cases were reported across the Asian country in the past 24 hours, taking India's total tally to 11,646,081, while 212 new deaths took the death toll to 159,967, showed the data issued by the health ministry on Monday.

The daily new cases and deaths registered in the past 24 hours both reached a record high so far this year.

Last week Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed concern at the surge in COVID-19 cases, calling for immediate steps to curb a possible second wave of the coronavirus epidemic in the country.