Parliament House sealed after detection of 30 Covid-19 cases

ISLAMABAD: The Parliament House has been sealed on emergency basis till next Monday after about 30 personnel of the two houses tested corona positive late last week.

The Capital Development Authority (CDA) has been entrusted with the responsibility of disinfecting the building situated on Constitution Avenue in front of famous D-Chowk of the federal capital. Chairman Senate Muhammad Sadiq Sanjrani, Speaker National Assembly Asad Qaisar and other officials have been confined to their houses and asked to work from home for the time being.

The meetings of the standing committees of the Senate and National Assembly have been cancelled and they are being rescheduled. Parliamentary sources told The News here on Tuesday that more than 20 officials of the Senate and eight of the National Assembly staff had been found corona positive last week and most of them had been shifted to hospitals or placed under quarantine.

The National Assembly speaker and his family members were tested positive during the first spike of Covid-19 and they recovered in about three weeks in March-April this year. Deputy Chairman Senate Saleem Mandviwala was affected by the disease in September last. He too recovered in a fortnight.

The Parliament House complex has been closed down for the second time this year. It was disinfected early this year when some staff members of the National Assembly fell victim to the pandemic. Two senior media persons -- Muhammad Anees (The News) and Arshad Waheed Chaudhry (Geo News), who report the proceedings of the Parliament House, had been bed-ridden after testing corona positive late last week. Arshad Waheed Chaudhry is in an oxygen tent in Holy Family Hospital Rawalpindi while Muhammad Anees is in quarantine at his residence. Sources said full strength of the staff and officials would not be allowed to attend offices once the Parliament House was opened. Only the persons required in office would be advised to turn up for duty.

Sources said the standard operating procedures (SOPs) against coronavirus had not been observed fully during the sittings of Senate and National Assembly last week. Most of members used mask, but staff and visitors were found violating the SOPs.

Sources said now a monitoring system was being evolved in the Parliament House through installation of closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras, which would ensure strict observation of the corona SOPs till the spike was over. Special staff would be deputed to keep an eye at various parts of the Parliament House for strict adherence to the SOPs, the sources added.