Bollywood icon Amitabh Bachchan hospitalised for COVID-19

Bollywood icon, Amitabh Bachchan has been hospitalised in India, following a positive COVID-19 test.

The 77 year-old actor was admitted Saturday to the Nanavati Hospital in Ville Parle in Mumbai.

His family members have also undergone tests and results are awaited, he said.

Bachchan asked all those who have been in close proximity to him in the past few days to get tested for Coronavirus.

Read his original tweet:

India is the world’s third worst-hit country by the virus.

As at Saturday, it has recorded 849,817 confirmed cases and 22,685 deaths .

Bachchan was born 11 October 1942 in Prayagraj, India.

As an actor, he gained popularity in the early 1970s for films such as Zanjeer, Deewaar and Sholay. He actually dominated Bollywood between the 1970s and the 1980s.

He also took part in politics in 1984, in support of Rajiv Gandhi.

He contested Allahabad’s seat for the 8th Lok Sabha against H. N. Bahuguna, former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and won by one of the highest victory margins in general election history (68.2% of the vote).

His political career, however, was short-lived: he resigned after three years, calling politics a cesspool.