Nepali MPs test for COVID-19 before budget session
Kathmandu/UNI: The Nepal Parliament has collected swabs samples of lawmakers and its employees as a precaution against COVID-19 ahead of a budget session to begin on Friday.
"Swabs of 441 lawmakers and staff including security personnel were taken on Thursday," Pushpa Raj Rijal, a senior doctor assigned at Parliament told Xinhua news agency.
"Among them, 179 lawmakers belonged to the House of Representatives, 37 are the lawmakers of the National Assembly and the rest are parliamentary staff including security personnel."
The number of COVID-19 cases in Nepal has increased to 101 after 2 new cases were confirmed on Thursday in south western Kapilvastu district, a senior official of th Ministry of Health and Population said.
On Wednesday, the Himalayan country also witnessed first three cases of re-infection with the virus. Nepal has been under a nationwide lockdown since March 24 to prevent the spread of the virus.
On Wednesday, the government extended the lockdown till May 18.
Support Our Journalism
We cannot do without you.. your contribution supports unbiased journalism
IBNS is not driven by any ism- not wokeism, not racism, not skewed secularism, not hyper right-wing or left liberal ideals, nor by any hardline religious beliefs or hyper nationalism. We want to serve you good old objective news, as they are. We do not judge or preach. We let people decide for themselves. We only try to present factual and well-sourced news.