Speaker calls for restrictions on visitors to Parliament

• Tells MPs, staff and media personnel to adhere strictly to health guidelines
• MPs requested not to invite visitors to Parliament
• Officials coming to Parliament also to be restricted  

Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena yesterday requested MPs to refrain from inviting visitors to Parliament and coming to the Parliament accompanied by outsiders, in view of the latest outbreak of COVID-19 in the country.

Making a special announcement at the time of the commencement of sittings, the Speaker said that the MPs must adhere to the guidelines and recommendations by the health authorities to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. “All MPs must observe those guidelines while entering the Parliament complex and during the time they remain in the premises. MPs should not extend invitations to outsiders and meet them in the parliament premises. They should invite only the minimum number of state officials for most essential duty requirements and bring down the number as much as possible as a health precautionary measure,” the Speaker said.

He also said Parliament staff members, parliament correspondents, suppliers of service and goods to Parliament and security staff members too, are required to adhere to the guidelines postulated by the health authorities in view of the threat posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.