Minister for Climate Change, Zartaj Gul Aziz has given the entire nation a reason to giggle in these bleak times.
The minister, while making an appearance on PTV News, gave the following hilarious definition of COVID-19:
Zartaj Gul proves everyday that in Pakistani politics, confidence trumps knowledge and intelligence
— Khurram Qureshi (@qureshik74) June 20, 2020
The minister tells the anchor on state television that COVID-19 means it has 19 points and it is a type of flu that can affect a country in one of the 19 ways.
To be clear, COVID-19 means ‘coronavirus disease 2019’. The ‘CO’ in the word stands for corona, ‘VI’ for virus and ‘D’ for disease. Formerly, this disease was referred to as ‘2019 novel coronavirus’ or ‘2019-nCoV.’
The hilarious fumble led to twitterati having a collection laugh at the expense of the minister:
+92 is dialling code of Pakistan, because they won World Cup in 1992.#Zartajgul pic.twitter.com/4wTG8ggbHj
— شمائل مغل (@SM_hoon) June 21, 2020
F-16 is 16 seater!#Zartajgul pic.twitter.com/KB6d8a4dVF
— K@thOL!Con° (@El_jawad_le) June 21, 2020
Relatable. #zartajgulwazir #Zartajgul pic.twitter.com/YwhvKGt1XD
— Abdul Mateen Aali (@AaliMateen) June 21, 2020
https://twitter.com/IMHaiderhadi/status/1274903992338915328
Not long after, the minister made another appearance on a TV show to clarify her ‘slip of tongue’:
https://twitter.com/zartajgulwazir/status/1275136442088464384
Was this really just an innocent mistake, or did the minister actually believe what she was saying before she was corrected by the masses? You be the judge.