KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 18 — A Works Department officer confirmed with Covid-19 was in the Parliament complex on September 10 when the legislature was meeting, administrators confirmed today.

The Chief Administrator of Parliament said checks conducted after the Works Department disclosed the officer’s infection yesterday showed that the person was present in the federal legislature building about five days before he tested positive for Covid-19.

Covid-19 has an average incubation period of two weeks, the entirety of which may be contagious.

"The officer was confirmed to be in the Parliament complex on September 10.

"Based on checks done, the officer was present to assist the deputy works minister during the winding-up of debate on Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ria'yatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah’s royal address to the Dewan Negara,” the official said in a statement today.

The deputy works minister is Datuk Eddin Syazlee Shith from Bersatu.

It is unclear how many of the 70 senators, some of whom may be campaigning in Sabah for the state election, came into contact with the infected officer.

The officer was allowed into the Parliament compound as he was asymptomatic and had passed all Covid-19 screenings that were done in accordance to the National Security Council’s standard operating procedures, the administrator said.

The Parliament official stressed that all precautionary measures as instituted by the NSC and the Health Ministry were observed the entire time federal lawmakers sat.

The Fire and Rescue Department will conduct a sanitisation and disinfection exercise to ensure the Senate may continue its sittings scheduled from September 21 to 23.

Yesterday, the Works Department confirmed that the officer attached to its headquarters in Jalan Sultan Salahuddin tested positive for Covid-19 after undergoing a random swab test at the Kuching International Airport in Sarawak on Monday.

The person still flew back to the peninsula and disembarked at Kuala Lumpur International Airport, from where he was taken to Hospital Sungai Buloh for treatment.

* Editor's note: An earlier version of this story erroneously named the deputy works minister as Datuk Shabudin Yahaya from Bersatu. Malay Mail apologises for the mistake and any embarrassment that may have resulted.