New Delhi:
More than 400 Parliament staff members have tested positive for COVID-19 just days ahead of the Budget Session of the Parliament.
The officials told ANI that of 1,409 staff of Parliament, 402 have been infected with the deadly virus and were tested between January 4 and 8. There swab samples have been sent for genome sequencing to confirm the variant of the virus.
“Close to 402 staffs were tested positive for COVID-19 from January 4-8 and all samples have been sent to genome sequencing for Omicron variant confirmation,” the official said.
According to an internal message from a staff of Parliament, the members were advised to adhere to the precautions as per the guidelines of the government.
“There is a consolidated list of 200 Lok Sabha and 69 from Rajya Sabha and 133 allied staff who have tested positive, but we all need to take proper precautions,” an internal message read.
The list, however, did not include the names of the people who were tested for COVID outside the Parliament premises.
Several employees of both the Houses of the Parliament were put in isolation after they came into contact with their infected colleagues during work. Various officials of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha are also in isolation.
A recent order by the DDMA directed all government offices to run under 50 per cent of staff capacity and the rest will work from home. Taking the new variant of COVID-19, Omicron seriously, the Central government also exempted its staff from biometric (daily punching) for attendance.
]]>
, International, ,