The Director Communications & Public Affairs at Parliament, Chris Obore has refuted claims that 100 Members of Parliament tested positive for Covid 19.
Obore stated that COVID-19 tests were carried out at Parliament to test persons who would be attending State functions at Kololo Independence Grounds.
He further said that three tests were carried out for each event and the events included: Election of the Speaker (24th May 2021); the State of the Nation Address by H.E. the President (4th June 2021); and Budget Reading (10th June 2021).
” Over 3,000 people that included MPs, staff of Parliament, Police, ISO, SFC, Service Providers, Journalists, Prisons staff and invited guests were tested for COVID-19.Out of all those tested for the events, approximately 100 came out positive. Note that Parliament has 529MPs (approximately 30 Parliament staff were manning the events.),”said Obore.
Obore explained that if the figures were for only the MPs, there would be a very high fatality rate.
“The 100 positive cases were from the sample of more than 3,000 and note that some of the patients have already made full recovery,” said Obore.
He also said that in compliance with the President’s directives, the August House has scaled down on the number of staff and journalists at parliament to 20 per cent and Visitors are highly discouraged.