30 MPs, 50 secretariat employees test positive

NEW DELHI: Around 30 MPs, including BJP’s Meenakshi Lekhi and Pravesh Verma, and over 50 employees of Parliament have tested positive for COVID-19 so far, sources said on Monday.
Many of them tested positive after undergoing compulsory coronavirus tests at the parliament premises before the start of the monsoon session, while several of them had undergone tests in their respective constituencies.
All parliamentarians and staff of the secretariats of both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha had undergone mandatory COVID-19 tests before the start of the session.
Mediapersons covering the parliament’s proceedings also underwent these tests and at least one of them has tested positive, the sources said.
“ICMR is honoured to have carried out testing of 2500+ samples of MPs and other officials on war footing over the weekend in service of the nation”, the Indian Council of Medical Research said on Twitter.
As per the details available with parliament authorities, around 30 MPs and over 50 employees of the secretariats tested positive for coronavirus.
All those who have tested positive have been asked to stay in quarantine and they did not come to Parliament, sources said.
The monsoon session, which began on Monday, is being held in two different shifts — Rajya Sabha in the mornings and Lok Sabha in the second half of the day.
Some of these MPs went public with their test reports through Twitter including BJP MPs Meenakshi Lekhi, Suresh Angadi, Ram Shankar Katheria and Pravesh Varma. (PTI)