Yogesh Bhattarai has become the first minister to contract Covid-19 in the Oli Cabinet.

Bhattarai, who was appointed the tourism minister in July last year, announced on Facebook that he tested positive for the coronavirus on Saturday.

“Last Monday when tested for Covid-19, my result was negative. After that I had participated in some programmes outside Kathmandu. But on Saturday, I tested positive for the coronavirus,” Bhattarai posted on Facebook.

According to Bhattarai’s post, he had two tests within six days. On Thursday, Bhattarai had attended the Cabinet meeting at Baluwatar, raising concerns if he exposed other ministers to the virus.

A minister, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told the Post the seating arrangement for the Cabinet meeting “is safe” and that everyone sits in safe distance.

“The prime minister always sits at least five metres from the ministers who, too, sit maintaining distance with each other,” the minister told the Post. “Masks are mandatory.”

Bhattarai in February described Nepal as a coronavirus free country.

A day after 175 Nepalis were evacuated from Wuhan of China, from where the virus started, Bhattarai said that Nepal is free from coronavirus and called on related government agencies to accelerate efforts to promote Nepal as a safe tourist destination.

Bhattarai is the seventh person from Oli’s orbit to test positive for the virus. After his personal physician Dibya Singh Shah and personal photographer Rajan Kafle tested positive for Covid-19 about two weeks ago, his close aides–Surya Thapa, Rajan Bhattarai and Bishnu Rimal–announced on Twitter last Saturday that they tested positive for the virus. Two days later, Oli’s media expert Ram Sharan Bajgain too tested positive for the virus.

Thapa, Bhattarai and Rimal announced on Thursday, again via Twitter, that they had tested negative, raising questions as to how they underwent a second test within five days and why they did not follow the mandatory protocol of 14-day isolation.

Even after Oli’s close aides declared they had tested positive, there was no word from Baluwatar on the prime minister’s health status. Concerns had grown given Oli’s age–he is 69–and his underlying conditions–he underwent a second kidney transplant only in March this year and he is said to be immuno-compomised.

Thapa, Oli’s press advisor, told the Post that the prime minister has been taking all the precautions and that he is strictly following the health protocols. Apart from the Cabinet meeting, Oli recently attended the party’s Secretariat meeting and has been regularly meeting Pushpa Kamal Dahal, the other chair of the party.

Another minister from the Oli Cabinet told the Post that he was now concerned about himself as he was in the last Cabinet meeting on Thursday and that he has his own health conditions.

“My concerns have grown after knowing that a fellow minister has tested positive for the coronavirus,” said the minister. “I have my health issues and I am diabetic too.”

According to the minister, Bhattarai was present in Thursday’s Cabinet meeting but he skipped Saturday’s meeting of the Covid-19 Crisis Management Centre held at its office in Chhauni.