Maharashtra assembly speaker tests positive 2 days before session starts

MUMBAI: Maharashtra assembly speaker Nana Patole on Friday said he has tested Covid-19 positive, two days before the monsoon session of state legislature begins in Mumbai.
Patole said he developed symptoms while touring his constituency in Vidarbha region to monitor flood relief work.
"I got myself tested and the results were positive," he tweeted. He asked those who came in his contact recently to get themselves tested.
NCP MLA Narhari Zhirwal, who is the assembly deputy speaker, will chair the proceedings in Patole's absence, a Vidhan Bhawan official said.
For the two-day session, officials have put in place a slew of measures to ensure members do not contract the infection and House proceedings go on without any hindrance.
Compulsory antigen tests for legislators, distribution of Covid-19 kits and a new seating arrangement to ensure physical distancing among members are some of the measures undertaken for the session beginning on September 7, the official said.
The session was postponed twice - it was originally scheduled from June 22 and was later shifted to the last week of August.
The budget session in March was curtailed by a week after the first coronavirus case in Maharashtra was detected.