Sri Lanka Parliament has been presented with a set of guidelines essential for the conduct of sessions of the new parliament in a safe environment after General Elections on 5th August as measure of facing the challenges of COVID19.

Director General of Health Services Dr. Anil Jasinghe presented the 'Operational Guidelines on Preparedness and Response for COVID-19 Outbreak for the Parliament of Sri Lanka' to the Secretary General of Parliament Dhammika Dasanayake on Friday.

A group of health officials representing the Ministry of Health accompanied by the Deputy Director General Dr. Laxman Gamlath have visited the Parliament premises on the 22nd of July 2020 to instruct on the measures to be taken complying with health guidelines post general elections in preparation of a mechanism to protect the dignitaries including the Members of Parliament who will be attending Parliament sittings, the Parliament staff and the security forces from the COVID19 virus post General Elections.

The health officials who inspected various sections of Parliament expressed satisfaction over the health care measures already taken by Parliament, the Communication Department of Parliament said.

The Deputy Director General of Health Services, said that special attention will be paid to the chamber, cafeterias and the library of Parliament when compiling the health care guidelines.

The guidelines are to be implemented in Chamber of the Parliament as well as the Committee sessions, Secretary General of Parliament said.

According to the healthcare guidelines pertaining to the Chamber of Parliament all persons in the chamber should wear face masks all the time and the members should not remove the masks when addressing the parliament.

The guidelines recommend cleaning and disinfecting all commonly contacted surfaces before commencement of each session, installing hand sanitizers at all the entrances of the Chamber and ensuring everyone entering the Chamber used the sanitizers, among other measures.

These guidelines were prepared by the Ministry of Health at the request of the Secretary General of Parliament Dhammika Dasanayake.

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