Four more legislators in the National Assembly and Senate have contracted coronavirus as the number of infections in the Parliament House was also rising beside a steep increase in cases across the country.

Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) senior leader Ahsan Iqbal, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) MNA Farrukh Habib, Muttahida Qaumi Movement Pakistan (MQM-P) legislator Usama Qadri and Senator Sana Jamali from Balochistan have been detected with coronavirus today.

Moreover, 22 more workers of the Parliament’s Secretariat were infected with the virus, taking the tally of the Parliament House’s employees to more than 80.

According to a report compiled by the National Institute of Health (NIH) Islamabad, COVID-19 infections were confirmed in 22 more employees of the secretariat, as well as in three NA lawmakers including Rasheed Ahmad Khan, Chela Ram Kewlani and Dr Suresh Kumar. Chela Ram Kewlani is also the head of the Minorities Commission.

The confirmation was made after NIH received detection test results of 71 samples of the employees.

After witnessing the new cases, the administration of the Parliament’s dispensary warned the Senate Secretariat regarding the disastrous consequences of the spread of COVID-19 among legislators and employees.

The administration asked the higher authorities to pay attention to the spread of infections. In a letter, the administration detailed that 67 persons were tested positive for COVID-19 out of 382 tests conducted in the parliament and the rate of positive cases stood at 17 per cent.