11 more Parliament House staffers test positive for coronavirus

LAHORE: The number of Parliament House staffers affected by the coronavirus has gone up to 16 after 11 more employees tested positive for the coronavirus on Thursday, ARY News reported.

According to details, 77 samples of COVID-19 were taken, of which 16 came out positive. The NA secretariat has decided to conduct more tests of Parliament House employees.

Federal Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry claimed on Wednesday that various lawmakers contracted coronavirus after attending National Assembly’s session.

Fawad Chaudhry opposed the decision to summon a parliamentary session and suggested to hold a virtual session. He said that four lawmakers including a provincial minister lost their lives due to coronavirus during one week, whereas, many legislators were detected with COVID-19 after attending NA session.

The countrywide tally of coronavirus cases has surged to 85,264 with record case of 4,688 in the last 24 hours.

According to the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC), so far, 33,536 cases have been detected in Sindh, 31,104 in Punjab, 11,373 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 5,224 in Balochistan, 3,544 in Islamabad, 285 in Azad Jammu and Kashmir and 824 in Gilgit Baltistan.

28,923 patients have recovered from the disease, while 53,366 are still battling the deadly virus. After 82 coronavirus deaths in last 24 hours the total tally of fatalities now stands at 1,770.

So far, 615,511 tests have been conducted across the country.with 20,167 new tests during the period of last 24 hours.