German foreign minister cuts trip after positive covid test in Pakistan

BERLIN — Germany’s foreign minister is cutting short a three-country foreign trip after testing positive for covid-19 in Pakistan on Tuesday.

Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock took a test after she noticed that she had lost her sense of taste at lunch, her ministry said on Twitter. It said that a test hours before had been negative. She met Pakistani counterpart Bilawal Bhutto Zardari after arriving in Islambad earlier Tuesday.

The ministry said that all further engagements on her trip were canceled. Baerbock had planned to stay in Pakistan until Wednesday and then visit Greece and Turkey.

German news agency dpa quoted ministry spokesman Christofer Burger as saying that a member of Baerbock’s family had tested positive on Saturday, but the minister had had little contact with that person and had tested herself frequently since then.

Burger said the minister was in her hotel room and planned to fly home on Wednesday with her delegation on the same German air force plane she arrived on. He said the aircraft is equipped in such a way that Baerbock can spend the whole flight in isolation.