Parliament sittings likely to be curtailed

As the number of COVID- 19 infected MPs and Parliament staff continues to rise, the Committee on Parliamentary Business will meet at 3 pm tomorrow ( 7) to decide on the sittings scheduled for next week.

Parliament is currently scheduled to sit for four days next week from February 8 to 11. Given the significant increase in the number of MPs and Parliament staff who have contracted COVID since the last sitting week in January, however, there is likelihood that sittings could be curtailed, Parliament sources said.

Between 50 and 60 Parliament staff members and 14 MPs have tested positive for COVID-19 since the ceremonial sitting of the Second Session of the Ninth Parliament on January 18. On Thursday ( 3), Environment Minister Mahinda Amaraweera became the latest MP to test positive.

A mini cluster recently emerged in the Parliament catering section after 20 of about 40 catering staff who had gone on a trip to Galle subsequently tested positive. This cluster was contained by rapidly isolating the infected staff members and their contacts after the test results arrived, a senior Parliament official disclosed. Five police officers attached to Parliament have also tested positive in recent days.

Rapid Antigen tests are to be conducted at the Parliamentary complex on Tuesday (8) for MPs, Parliament staff and journalists. The tests, however, will be on a voluntary basis.

Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena is still recovering from COVID- 19 and told the Sunday Times he would not chair the Business Committee meeting as he intends to undergo a PCR test tomorrow to check whether he is free of the virus. If the PCR test clears him, the Speaker said he expects to chair the sittings scheduled to begin from Tuesday.

In the Speaker’s absence, tomorrow’s Business Committee meeting will be chaired by Deputy Speaker Ranjith Siyambalapitiya.