Fact Check: Authorities break silence on claims regarding top judge ‘contracting coronavirus’

Claim: Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed has contracted COVID-19

Fact: CJP Gulzar Ahmed has not tested positive for COVID-19

Authorities have rubbished claims regarding Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Gulzar Ahmed contracting coronavirus, which had surfaced after an employee reportedly from the top judge’s chamber at the Supreme Court (SC) tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday.

According to Dawn, the apex court, in a statement, has said that the CJP, his family and his secretary have all tested negative for the coronavirus.

The statement added that the top judge’s tests were conducted after an employee of the court developed symptoms of Covid-19, following which he was put under quarantine as a suspected coronavirus patient.

The employee, a Naib Qasid at the apex court, had first tested negative for the virus, but the result was “doubtful” and another test was conducted which turned out to be positive, the statement read.

The employee has now been isolated at a polyclinic in Islamabad.

Earlier in the day, reports circulated on local media that an employee in the CJP’s chamber had tested positive. However, the statement did not clarify whether the coronavirus-positive employee worked in the chief justice’s chamber but merely referred to him as an “employee of the Supreme Court”.

The reports had led to claims that the top judge had also tested positive for COVID-19.

VERDICT: FALSE