Tamil Nadu Higher Education Minister KP Anbalagan has been confirmed to have contracted to COVID-19 pandemic on Tuesday, becoming the first sitting minister in Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami's cabinet to test positive for the virus and the sixth legislator in the state to get infected by the virus. 

Anbalagan has been one of the senior ministers appointed to monitor and review the efforts of fighting COVID-19 in Chennai. He has been admitted at MIOT Hospital in Nandambakkam, Chennai. According to the statement issued by the hospital on Tuesday, the minister is doing stable and all the vital parameters are normal.

The hospital further stated that "Initially, he showed no symptoms and his CT Scan was normal, but still as a precautionary measure, he was kept under observation. Subsequently, his second sample was tested positive for COVID-19. The Minister has developed a mild cough on Monday -June 29 and he is being treated for the same".

Through the statement, it can be learned that the minister was tested positive after his second sample has confirmed that he has been contracted to the virus. The hospital statement of issuing the confirmation has come when the state has been preparing for the sixth phase of the lockdown from July 1 to July 31 to curb the spread of COVID-19 pandemic.

Earlier, the minister denied that he was tested positive for the pandemic and the Chief Minister had also maintained the denial amid the speculations that he was tested for the virus. On June 19, he was admitted to the hospital and has been getting treated under isolation. 

The developments had shocked the government machinery as Anbalagan has been one of the five ministers appointed by the state to monitor and review the efforts of fighting COVID-19 in Chennai. Anbalagan was responsible to oversee the measures and co-ordination of Zones 13, 14, and 15 in Chennai which cover the areas of Adyar, Perungudi, and Shollinganallur respectively.

He has become the sixth sitting MLA in the state to test positive and the second one in the ADMK party. According to the reports, DMK's J Anbalagan, Vasantham Karthikeyan, KT Arasu, Masthan, and ADMK's Palani had tested positive for the virus. While DMK's Anbalagan succumbed to the infection on June 10, the other legislators have been getting treated at the hospitals.