MPs to be tested for covid-19

MPs attending parliamentary sessions in Nay Pyi Taw will be tested for the coronavirus this week, a Nay Pyi Taw public health official said. 

Parliament is scheduled to resume on May 18.  

MPs were told to arrive in the capital by May 10 for health screenings, with nasal swab tests to follow on May 14 and 15, Nay Pyi Taw public health department deputy director Dr Aye Aye Mar said at a press conference on Monday. 

Eight rooms have been set up to collect swab samples, with five lawmakers being swabbed per room every 30 minutes, Aye Aye Mar said. The samples will then be sent to a lab in Yangon.

Tatmadaw officials tested military MPs on May 7, all of whom tested negative, according to brigadier general Zaw Min Tun of the Tatmadaw True News Information Team.

In addition to testing, parliamentary meeting rooms have been reconfigured to comply with social distancing guidelines, with MPs sitting one seat apart, national assembly office director general Lwin Oo said. 

Further details on the set up and guidelines are unclear at this point. 

Parliament will discuss changes to the 2019-2020 budget and an emergency Covid-19 loan from the World Bank when parliament restarts.

As of May 12, Myanmar had recorded 180 Covid-19 cases including 6 deaths and 76 recoveries and had run 11,822 tests. 

There are 3,916 suspected patients currently under quarantined observation, according to the health ministry.