Over 400 Parliament staff members have reportedly tested positive for COVID-19, official sources have informed. 

This comes right ahead of the budget session scheduled to take place on February 1.

“Close to 402 staffs were tested positive for COVID-19 from January 4-8 and all samples have been sent to genome sequencing for Omicron variant confirmation,” an official told ANI.

According to an internal message from the staff of Parliament, consisting of over 1400 people, members have been advised to take the necessary precautions. 

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“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,” the message read.

Notably, this list does not include those who had tested positive outside of the Parliament premises. 

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Employees and officials of both the Houses, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, who had come in contact with the infected individuals were put in isolation. 

Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu has reviewed the situation and directed that necessary measures be taken to contain the spread of the virus among the Secretariat officials and staff, the sources informed.

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All the staff and officials have been directed to get tested, and the recovery of all infected members would be closely monitored, Naidu said, according to ANI. Assistance in hospitalisation and treatment will also be provided if needed. 

The District Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) had recently ordered government offices to run under 50% capacity. The rest are required to work from home. The staff has also been exempted from biometric attendance, owing to the threat of the highly contagious omicron variant. 

Meanwhile, India recorded 1,59,632 new COVID-19 cases and 327 deaths in the last 24 hours, data from the Union Health Ministry confirmed on Sunday. The country’s total infection tally now stands at 3,55,28,004, with the death toll pushed to 4,83,790. The daily rise in COVID-19 reported on Sunday is the highest the country has recorded in 224 days. 

(With inputs from ANI)