QCOSTARICA – In order to avoid further contagion of Covid-19, the Legislative Assembly and Commission were suspended until Tuesday, February 2 due to legislator Gustavo Viales confirmed positive for the virus.
Meanwhile, Geannina Dinarte, Minister of the Presidency and Elián Villegas, Minister of Finance, has been ordered to isolation.
The legislator had contact with various, in addition to meeting with the senior executives of the Government.
The mandatory legislative recess occurs at a time when the Carlos Alvarado government tries to promote a structural reform agenda with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which includes a public employment law.
“Minister Dinarte and Minister Villegas will carry out teleworking to attend to their tasks. In compliance with the Health Surveillance guidelines, both will have a PCR test that detects the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes Covid-19, at the time that the results of both tests will be released as soon as they are available,” the government said on Wednesday.
The shut down of Congrrss was based on the recommendations of congressional doctor, Walter Rodríguez.
“The Department of Health Services recommends to the legislator to fully comply with the guidelines of the Ministry (of Health), and indicates that if any of them have symptoms of respiratory tract infection, loss of taste or smell, consult immediately to their corresponding health areas, or to our department,” it indicated in a statement.
Legislators Viales appeared in the Assembly on Monday, January 25 and, according to the tracking carried out, he was in a meeting of the PLN fraction, remained in his office and participated in the session of the Legislative Plenary.
The administration ordered the cleaning and sanitization of the plenary and the fractional office of the PLN located on the seventh floor.
Antonio Ayales, executive director of the Legislature, confirmed that the Assembly doctor was conducting the proceedings to track down the apparent cases of covid-19 linked to Viales and ordered the cleaning and sanitization of the plenary.
Last year, there were two occasions that suspended the functions of Congress, one of these occurred in October, when a wave of infections led to the temporary closure of the legislature.
For that occasion, a fumigation process was carried out in order to sanitize the surfaces of the new building.
In December, days before the deputies recessed, which would run from December 18 to January 11, 2021, the sessions were also suspended.
