The Damansara MP said only 11 of the 1,183 samples taken in Parliament had tested positive for the virus.

He said this was less than 1% of the total tests.

“You must be joking. If that’s the benchmark to shut down Parliament, then basically there’ll never be another sitting ever again.

“What absolute nonsense,” he said in a Facebook post tonight.

Pua went on to say that the entire point of regular screening in Parliament was to sieve out the positive cases to prevent the spread of the virus.

This way, elected representatives could carry out their duties normally, and not shut Parliament down because of the cases that come up to less than 1%.

“Or is it just an excuse to run a dictatorship?” he asked.

Earlier today, a source told Malaysiakini that the special sitting could be cut short due to Covid-19 cases among MPs.

Another source told the portal that the Cabinet would wait to decide on the matter after receiving a report from the health ministry.

This morning, health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said 11 Covid-19 positive cases were detected in Parliament yesterday.

Pua’s fellow DAP colleague, Charles Santiago said Covid-19 would be a “perfect excuse” to call off the sitting on Monday.

However, the excuse would not sit well with the people and MPs, especially after the drama in Parliament yesterday, he said.

The Klang MP was referring to the Palace’s statement that Putrajaya did not get the King’s consent to revoke the emergency ordinances.

The government, he added, had also promised Parliament that it would provide the details of the EO revocation.

But based on the King’s statement, it would be difficult for Perikatan Nasional to justify this position.

“In order to avoid embarrassment, they could use Covid-19 as an excuse.”

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