Following the Covid-19 outbreak, filming was halted, promotions were delayed and releases were pushed back. A slew of Bollywood stars contracted the novel coronavirus infection in the first wave of the pandemic. Most of them fortunately reported having mild symptoms. These included the Bachchan family members Amitabh, Abhishek and Aishwarya, Arjun Kapoor, Malaika Arora and Genelia Deshmukh among a few others. Ahead of the second wave of the epidemic, B-town stars returned to film sets to resume shooting. While India has witnessed a rapid increase in the positivity rate once again, actors Varun Dhawan and Neetu Kapoor have now tested positive.
The two stars started shooting not too long ago for Raj Mehta’s directorial Jug Jug Jeeyo. The film-maker has also supposedly contracted the virus. Both Varun and Neetu are now in isolation and the film’s production has been stopped until further notice. Lead cast members Anil Kapoor and Kira Advani have tested negative. “In the interest of putting any rumours to rest, I have tested negative for COVID-19. Thank you all for your concern and good wishes,” Anil wrote on Twitter. We wish them a speedy recovery!
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Meanwhile, for Neetu, her son and actor Ranbir Kapoor has been making arrangements to bring his mother back to Mumbai where she can get proper treatment for her diagnosis. A string of Pakistani stars have also tested positive over the past few months. These include Nida Yasir, Yasir Nawaz, Aamir Liaqat, and models Farwa Kazmi and Saheefa Jabbar Khattak among many others. From Hollywood, actors Idris Elba and Tom Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson are among the few who contracted the infection. While the pandemic shows no signs of slowing down, Pfizer and BioNtech’s vaccine – recently approved in the United Kingdom – seems to have given a ray of hope to people around the world.