30 Indian lawmakers test positive for Covid-19; parliament session likely to cut short

AFTER 30 lawmakers were tested positive for the coronavirus, India's parliament session is likely to be cut short, two senior parliament officials said.

India's parliament met for the first time in six months on Monday(14).

The country's Covid-19 tally crossed the 5.3 million mark on Saturday (19) with a spike of 93,337 new cases and 1,247 deaths in a day.

The total active cases stand at 1,013,964 with 85,619 deaths.

The parliament was originally scheduled to function until Oct. 1, but the two officials said its duration could be reduced by a week, reported Reuters.

"Since the commencement of the session the number of positive cases have gone up so the government is thinking of cutting short the session," said one of the two officials, who are involved in the functioning of parliament proceedings.

The government has also mandated daily tests for journalist entering parliament to cover the session from Saturday.

The lower and upper house secretariats did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

India has been posting the highest single-day caseload in the world since early August.

India is the second-most badly hit country after the US with total recorded coronavirus cases at 5.3 million.

The lawmakers who have been infected include Nitin Gadkari, highways and small enterprises minister in prime minister's Narendra Modi's cabinet.

On Wednesday(16), India's federal government ordered its states not to hoard oxygen supplies and allow free movement to cope with the rising number of cases.