All LS MPs to undergo COVID-19 testing before session: Speaker

New Delhi: As the Parliament is gearing up to hold first-of-its-kind Monsoon Session during the COVID-19 pandemic, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla is taking every precautionary measure to keep a check on the transmission of the infection among parliamentarians, officials and journalists.

In a latest development, the Speaker has asked all MPs willing to participate in the upcoming session to undergo RT-PCR test for COVID-19 prior to 72 hours of the commencement of the House.

"The arrangements for COVID-19 testing have been made in the Parliament campus. The MPs would have to get themselves tested for the virus at the Parliament, even if they have gone through the RT-PCT test at their own places," an official said.

The security personnel deployed at the Parliament would be tested for COVID-19 after an interval of seven days and if required the MPs would also be tested twice for the virus, the official said, adding that all the journalists willing to cover the House proceedings would also have to go through the Coronavirus test.

The directions in this regard have been issued after a preparatory meeting which was chaired by the Speaker and attended by union experts from the health ministry, officials from the Indian Council of Medical Research, Defence Research and Development Organisation, AIIMS and the Delhi government.

The session is scheduled to start on September 14 and run till October 1. Both the Houses — Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha — will operate in shifts with the Lower House starting at 9 am and the other at 3 pm.