The National Assembly has postponed by at least several hours a planned plenary session aimed at passing the country’s third extra budget plan after one of the ruling Democratic Party(DP) lawmakers was found to have come into contact with a COVID-19 patient. 

The DP-led parliament initially planned to hold a plenary session at 7 p.m., but pushed it back by three hours. A further delay is possible if Rep. Oh Young-hwan is also confirmed to have contracted the virus. 

Earlier in the day, Oh notified parliament that a citizen with whom he shook hands at a community event two days ago just tested positive for the coronavirus. He placed himself in quarantine afterwards awaiting the result of a test expected to be announced by 8:30 p.m. 

The first-term lawmaker is suspected of coming into contact with over 100 people on Friday alone, including several lawmakers, who were also requested by the DP to stay inside the parliament building until Oh’s test result comes out. 

The DP seeks to pass the extra budget, which was believed to have grown to be over 38 trillion won, in the process of the parliamentary deliberations by Friday, the final day of the incumbent extra Assembly session.