Coronavirus pandemic

Aishwarya Rai tests positive as Covid-19 affects her family

Bollywood star Aishwarya Rai and her daughter are the latest in her family to test positive for Covid-19, after her husband and father-in-law. PHOTO: EPA-EFE
Bollywood star Aishwarya Rai and her daughter are the latest in her family to test positive for Covid-19, after her husband and father-in-law. PHOTO: EPA-EFE

MUMBAI • Bollywood star Aishwarya Rai has tested positive for the coronavirus, just a day after her father-in-law Amitabh Bachchan said he was in hospital with the infectious disease.

Maharashtra state Health Minister Rajesh Tope said in a tweet yesterday that Ms Rai and her eight-year-old daughter Aaradhya had tested positive for the virus. The minister later deleted his tweet, but another government official confirmed to Reuters that the information was accurate.

A spokesman for Ms Rai declined comment. Mr Bachchan's actor son Abhishek, Ms Rai's husband, said he, too, was positive but that both his and his father's cases were mild, reported Reuters.

Ms Rai won the Miss World crown in 1994 and made her acting debut in the late 1990s. She went on to become one of the most famous Bollywood faces abroad, as well as in India, and has been a regular on the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival.

She married Abhishek Bachchan in 2007.

Ms Rai, 46, who often features on "most beautiful" lists, is a brand ambassador for several multinational companies, including L'Oreal.

India's NDTV website reported that actor Anupam Kher revealed yesterday that members of his family, including his mother Dulari and brother Raju, have tested positive for Covid-19, though he tested negative. The bungalow of actress Rekha was also sealed after her security staff tested positive.

Staff working in the households of actor Aamir Khan and film-makers Karan Johar and Boney Kapoor were earlier found to be infected.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on July 13, 2020, with the headline Aishwarya Rai tests positive as Covid-19 affects her family. Subscribe