After the Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa tested positive for the Covid-19 virus, 10 staff members at the Opposition Leader’s office have also tested positive for virus.
The staff members include seven from the Opposition Leader’s Parliament office and the rest from his office at 30, Sir Marcus Fernando Mawatha, Colombo.
The seven staffers of the Opposition Leader’s Parliament office had reported to work on all five days last week, Sergeant-at-Arms Narendra Fernando told the Sunday Observer.
He said 15 parliamentarians and seven staff members of the Opposition Leader’s Parliament office have been identified via CCTV footage as close contacts of Opposition Leader Premadasa. However, there could be more contacts. We have already informed Chief Opposition Whip MP Lakshman Kiriella and SJB General Secretary MP Ranjith Madduma Bandara in this connection. “We have also sought information on all our staff working in the parliamentary complex, whether they had close contacts with the Opposition leader and the other 15 SJB parliamentarians and if that is the case to self-isolate and follow health guidelines. At present, no one is attending Parliament due to countrywide travel restrictions. Therefore, there is no possibility of spreading the disease among Parliament employees. Otherwise, it would have led to yet another Covid-19 cluster,” he said. Fernando said so far, Parliament has been informed that only SJB MP Nalin Bandara has tested positive. “We would be able to know about the rest of the MPs once their PCR reports are out. Apart from them, no other MP from the Government or Opposition who attended parliamentary sittings last week has contracted the virus so far”.
The Opposition leader in a recent social media post said his wife was admitted to hospital with symptoms of Covid-19 and she subsequently tested positive having done a PCR test on May 22. He said, “Following health guidelines, I did a PCR test and was informed on May 23 that I too had tested positive.”