Afghan media reports say both houses of the Afghan parliament—the Wolesi Jirga (lower house of parliament) and the Meshrano Jirga (upper house) have been put on lockdown until the end of the nationwide lockdown, due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19.
The decision to shut the parliament was made by lawmakers through open voting.
Baztab News says Afghanistan's parliament has shut down for two weeks
So far, the parliament was holding its general session once a week, but its commissions were carrying out administrative duties on the days.
According to TOLONews, the parliament’s speaker Mir Rahman Rahmani said that warnings from the Ministry of Health indicate that Kabul will be facing severe situations in the coming weeks.
“Staffers from the secretariat who are civil servants do not need to work during the lockdown, in view of the sensitive situation that exists there,” parliament speaker Mir Rahman Rahmani was cited as saying.
Meanwhile, some lawmakers who opposed the move accused the government of pressuring the parliament's administrative panel to put it forward. They said that the names of those who are putting pressure on the doctors for testing must be disclosed.
“Strongmen are interfering and they want to take the opportunity to get a corona test; why are their names not shared with the people of Afghanistan?” said MP Robina Jalali.
But, the Ministry of Health is apparently reluctant to name them.
“When it comes to the Ministry of Health, we report–and will continue to report– each dollar or afghani we spend,” said Wahidullah Mayar, a spokesman for the Ministry of Health.
Kabul is already on lockdown due to the coronavirus outbreak.
According to official data, the virus has infected 1,939 people across the country as of April 29 and has killed 61 of them.
