The President of the oppostiton Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Shehbaz Sharif on Sunday returned to Islamabad from London where he spent the last four months with his ailing brother and former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
Taking to Twitter, Shehbaz urged citizens to practice social distancing and to self-isolate if possible, Dawn news reported.
“Just landed in Islamabad � maintain a distance from one another and try to stay at your homes so that none of us are forced to part with our loved ones due to this virus…,” he said in the tweet.
On Saturday, PML-N spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb had said that Shehbaz, who is the Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly, had decided to return to the country “in view of the situation of the spread of coronavirus” which has so far infected 645 people in the country and killed three people.
The number of coronavirus cases in Pakistan increased to 510 on Saturday, while the death toll stood at three.
As the number of coronavirus cases has risen to 81 in Balochistan, the provincial government has decided to impose a 21-day partial lockdown across the province to control the spread of highly contagious disease.
The country has closed all public and private educational institutions, marriage halls, cultural centres, cinemas, and cancelled all sports activities and official events and also blocked its western border crossings with Iran and Afghanistan.
Last year, Shehbaz stepped down as Public Account Committee chief and nominated his party’s MNA from Sheikhupura Rana Tanvir Hussain as his replacement.
In 2018, NAB Lahore had arrested Shahbaz Sharif in Aashyana company case.
In the Ashiyana housing scam, Shehbaz has been accused of ordering the cancellation of a contract given to a successful bidder for the low-cost housing scheme, resulting in a loss of Rs 193 million to the national exchequer.