30 MPs, over 50 Parliament staff test positive for coronavirus on day one of Monsoon Session: Report

It has been learnt that 30 MPs, including ruling BJP leaders Meenakshi Lekhi, Anant Kumar Hegde and Parvesh Sahib Singh, have tested positive for COVID-19 on day one of Parliament’s Monsoon Session.

New Delhi: As Parliament’s Monsoon Session began on Monday, it has been reported that around 30 MPs and over 50 employees of Parliament have tested positive for coronavirus.

Sources were quoted as saying by news agency PTI that around 30 MPs and more than 50 employees of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha secretariats tested positive for COVID-19 in mandatory tests introduced for the Parliament session.

All those whose test results returned positive were asked to stay under quarantine and not attend Parliament.

Earlier, it was reported that 17 Members of Parliament had tested positive for COVID-19 on day one of the Monsoon Session.

As per reports, of these 17 MPs, 12 are from the BJP, two from YSR Congress, and one each from Shiv Sena, DMK and RLP.

The MPs who had tested positive included BJP leaders Meenakshi Lekhi, Anant Kumar Hegde and Parvesh Sahib Singh Verma; Pratap Rao Jadav, Janardan Singh, Sukhbir Singh, Hanuman Beniwal, Sukanata Majumdar, Goddeti Madhavi, Bidyut Baran, Pradan Baruah, N Reddeppa, Selvam G, Pratap Rao Patil, Ram Shankar Katheria, Satya Pal Singh and Rodmal Nagar.

The MPs had undergone tests for COVID-19 as part of SOPs adopted to safely hold the Parliament session. The mandatory tests were conducted on Sunday and Monday.

The Parliament session began today with coronavirus norms being in place to prevent the spread of the infection. The entire premises was sanitised ahead of the session’s start today at 9 am.

Strict norms in place for COVID-19 prevention

This is the first Parliament session that is being held amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

A press release issued earlier by the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs had stated that the Monsoon Session will witness a total of 18 sittings over a period of 18 days (including Saturdays and Sundays). A total of 47 items - 45 Bills and two financial items – are slated to be taken up during the session.

Each House will sit for a four-hour session every day (Rajya Sabha from 9 am to 1 pm and Lok Sabha from 3 pm to 7 pm. On the first day today, however, the morning slot was given to the Lok Sabha.

Among other measures put in place to ensure a safe Parliament session, MPs are being seated in a staggered manner in chambers of both the houses as well as in galleries to ensure social distancing norms. Further, a mobile app has been launched to take attendance of MPs, while seats have been separated with poly-carbon sheets in the two houses.