Parliamentary Business Committee to discuss COVID situation in Parliament

The Committee on Parliamentary Business will convene today (13) under Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena to decide on how to proceed with the upcoming Parliamentary sessions next week in the aftermath of several MPs testing positive for COVID-19. 

The meeting of the Committee on Parliamentary Business will be held at 2.00pm today at the Parliamentary complex, Parliament's Department of Communications stated. 

At present, the next Parliament session is scheduled to be held at 10.00am on January 19. 

Three MPs; Dayasiri Jayasekara, Rauff Hakeem and Vasudewa Nanayakkara have tested positive for the virus so far. Mr Jayasekara did not attend any of the Parliamentary sessions held last week while Mr Hakeem was in attendance at the Parliamentary session held on January 5. Mr Nanayakkara had been present on all four days that Parliament was in session last week. 

Meanwhile, Kumarasiri Hettige, a Coordinating Secretary to Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, had also been in Parliament on January 8 before subsequently testing positive for COVID-19. 

Several Parliament staff members and about 30 MPs who have been identified as close associates of the infected MPs have been adviced by health authorities to self-isolate and undergo PCR tests. Several such MPs, including Gayantha Karunathilake, Thalatha Atukorale, M.A. Sumanthiran and Wimalaweera Dissanayake have already undergone PCR tests that have shown they had not contracted the virus. 

Meanwhile, PCR tests will be conducted at the Parliament complex from 10.00am to 3.00pm today (13) and on Friday (15) for Parliament staff. Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena states that MPs could also come to Parliament on these two days and get themselves tested.