More than 400 Parliament staff members have tested positive for COVID-19 just days ahead of the Budget Session, according to official sources quoted by news agency ANI.
Officials said that 402 staff members out of the 1,409 staff of Parliament tested positive from January 4 to 8 after which their samples were sent for genome sequencing to confirm the variant.
Read all the latest updates on COVID-19 here. According to an internal message from the staff of Parliament, the staff are advised to follow 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. Meanwhile, the Rajya Sabha Secretariat has restricted staff attendance in view of the rising COVID-19 cases and has directed half of the officials and staff below the rank of secretary/executive officer to work from home till the end of this month.
Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu has reviewed the situation and directed that necessary measures be taken to contain the secretary/executive officer to work from home till the end of this month, reported ANI.
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.
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