KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 5 — Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the decision to limit Parliament to 80 lawmakers at any one time was to minimise the risk of Covid-19 infections.

He noted that the politicians came from various parts of the country and into contact with many people, which required the enhancement to the existing standard operating procedures for prevention.

"We have 222 MPs and let’s say each has one assistant, the number is already more than 400. If we include the staff in the Parliament and other officers from government agencies and departments, it is still a lot,” he said during his daily Covid-19 briefing.

"What we are worried about is that the MPs come from all parts of the country. So, when they gather at one place, despite the Covid-19 test conducted on them three days before, they are still exposed to the community.

"If we notice, Kuala Lumpur and Selangor are under a conditional movement control order (CMCO), so it is possible MPs from there have been exposed to the cases that were asymptomatic,” he said.

Dr Noor Hisham also suggested that MPs and public servants who attend Parliament test for Covid-19 fortnightly.

He said these measures were to ensure the parliamentary meeting was not disrupted.

Earlier today, Deputy Speaker Datuk Rashid Hasnon announced that only 80 MPs would be allowed within the Dewan Rakyat during the tabling of Budget 2021 tomorrow. Others were to view this remotely.

However, he said all MPs will be allowed inside the House to take part in the divisional voting and that a bell will be rung at several intervals beforehand to alert them of this.

He also said the limit will remain for the rest of the meeting ending December 15 due to the rising Covid-19 numbers in Malaysia.