Covid-19 panic grips Parliament as three MPs in self-isolation

After spreading slowly through different states across the country, the deadly coronavirus pandemic seems to have knocked the door of Indian Parliament with reports of three Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MPs keeping themselves under isolation.

Minister of State for External Affairs Minister V. Muraleedharan and former Union Minister and India's Sherpa to the G20 Suresh Prabhu have been declared negative but they are still under self-isolation as a precautionary measure.

But an atmosphere of panic was visible on Friday afternoon among some MPs, staff as well as media crew covering the day-to-day functioning of Parliament during the second leg of Budget session after news circulated that BJP MP and son of former Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, Dushyant Singh, has gone into self-quarantine after attending March 15 party in Lucknow where singer Kanika Kapoor, who has tested positive for Covid-19, was present.

Kapoor, who returned from the UK on March 9, has attended three parties in Lucknow before she noticed suspected novel coronavirus symptoms on March 18 and underwent tests. Declared positive on Friday, she has become the first Bollywood celebrity to contact coronavirus in the country and says she is under complete quarantine and medical care.

Trinamool Congress' Rajya Sabha member Derek O' Brien said it is a very serious matter if Singh is under isolation as he was sitting near to him two days ago.

Media persons were also scared as many of them from different organisations had spoken to Singh when he was present in Parliament this week - after attending the party where Kapoor was present.

"This government is putting us all at risk. The PM says self-isolate yourself but the Parliament is on. I was sitting next to Dushyant the other day for 2.5 hours. There are two more MPs who are in self-isolation. The session should be deferred," O' Brien demanded.

Singh reportedly have so far found negative in the initial test but he along with his family, which was also present in the party attended by Kapoor, have kept themselves under isolation for the next 14 days.

Singh was also present in a breakfast get together of parliamentarians from Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan hosted by President Ram Nath Kovind at Rashtrapati Bhavan on Wednesday morning.

The scare in Parliament, however, was rejected by Minister of State of Home G. Kishan Reddy, who said that proper cleanliness and measures were being adopted in Parliament to stop the spread of novel coronavirus.

"Singh was present in the party as I heard. But he has no coronavirus symptoms. He only kept himself under isolation as a precautionary measure," Reddy told IANS.

The scare in the Parliament is evident amid fears across the country as the pandemic is increasing rapidly with the count crossing 2.45 lakh globally and over 200 in India. Global death toll crosses 10,000 on Friday with India reporting four deaths due to Covid-19 - which originated from Wuhan city in China in December last year.