E-Paper
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla tests Covid-19 positive, admitted at AIIMS
The Lok Sabha speaker will not be available for the remaining few days of the ongoing Budget Session that is expected to end on Thursday. Officials indicated that members of the pool of chairpersons would preside over the remaining part.
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla has tested positive for Covid-19, according to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, (AIIMS) Delhi.
Birla has never missed a single day of proceedings of the House ever since he was elected unopposed to the highest seat in the Lok Sabha in June 2019. But last Friday, he didn’t come to the House.
He tested positive for Covid-19 on March 19 and was admitted to the AIIMS Trauma Centre a day later.
“Om Birla, honourable Speaker of Lok Sabha tested positive for Covid-19 on March 19. He was admitted to AIIMS Covid Center for observation on March 20. He is stable and all his parameters are normal,” said Aarti Vij, chairperson, media and protocol division, AIIMS Delhi, in a statement.
The Lok Sabha speaker will not be available for the remaining few days of the ongoing Budget Session that is expected to end on Thursday. Officials indicated that members of the pool of chairpersons would preside over the remaining part.
The House has not elected any deputy speaker-- a rare exception in the Lok Sabha. Birla took the maximum workload and unlike any of his predecessors, he would sit through the session even late at night.
This is the first reported case of Covid-19 among lawmakers in the second half of the Budget Session.
