KUALA LUMPUR, July 29 — Deputy Dewan Rakyat Speaker Datuk Mohd Rashid Hasnon has advised everyone who was present in the Parliament complex here from Monday to Wednesday to undergo Covid-19 testing immediately.
He stressed that those who were absent from Parliament today should also be tested. He was silent on whether a detailed polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test or the Rapid Test Kit (RTK) Antigen test should be taken.
Health officials detected four positive cases in the Parliament compound today.
“To all MPs and officers who were present in the Parliament complex on Monday, July 26, Tuesday, July 27, and Wednesday, July 28 but were absent today are advised to undergo screening at a nearby clinic immediately,” Mohd Rashid said before adjourning the lawmakers for the day.
He added that Parliament would have to undergo a risk assessment by the Health Ministry following the new cases.
The revelation of the new infections caused today's Dewan Rakyat sitting to be delayed twice.
The first time was at 3.30pm. The second happened at 5.15pm. Mohd Rashid entered the Lower House to announce the new infections and the postponement to Monday and left the chambers immediately.
The entire Parliament grounds was placed under a lockdown and everyone within were made to undergo a rapid Covid-19 saliva test.
No one was allowed to leave the compound pending the results of the rapid test.
Lawmakers stuck there shared videos of themselves and their peers packing up their belongings and waiting for the green light to leave Parliament.
Malay Mail understands that those who received negative results in the saliva test were allowed to leave from 6pm onwards.
Today’s Dewan Rakyat sitting had been eventful since lunchtime following a statement from Istana Negara.
The Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri'ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah expressed his utmost disappointment with the statement made in Parliament last Monday that the government had revoked all Emergency Ordinances under the ongoing emergency without his consent.
In the statement, the King said he was disappointed that his decree to de facto law minister Datuk Seri Takiyuddin Hassan and Attorney-General Tan Sri Idrus Harun for the proposed revocation of all the ordinances to be tabled and debated in Parliament had not been carried out.
