News / Politics

Boris Johnson cancels trip to India over 'double mutant' Covid variant fear

Monday, 19 April 2021 3:41 PM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 11 May 2021 8:41 AM ]

Boris Johnson (R) was hoping to use the long-anticipated trip to India to cement his personal relationship with India Prime Minister Narendra Modi (L)

Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, has been forced to cancel his long-awaited trip to India, largely due to fears over a new Covid variant that has taken hold in that country.

Boris Johnson cancels visit to India due to Covid crisis in England

Announcing the decision, the British and Indian governments said in a joint statement: "In the light of the current coronavirus situation, Prime Minister Boris Johnson will not be able to travel to India next week”.

The statement added that the two leaders will stay in touch in the hope of meeting later this year with a view to launching “their ambitious plans for the future partnership between the UK and India”.

For his part, the PM said it was “only sensible” to cancel the trip “given what’s happened in India, the shape of the pandemic there”.

Echoing the sentiment of the joint statement by the UK and Indian governments, the PM added: "And I just want to stress that this is, we're going to be going back, the relationship between the UK and India is of huge importance, and I'll be talking to Narendra Modi on Monday, we'll be trying to do as much as we can, virtually”.

Underscoring the importance of the event to Whitehall, the PM’s visit was originally envisaged as a four-day trip before it was cut back last week to just one day in Delhi. And now of course it has been cancelled altogether.

India is currently in the grip of a massive Covid-19 wave, with more than 270,000 new infections recorded on Sunday (April 18) alone.

There is growing concern about the B.1.617 variant which carries two mutations, E484Q and L452R. Both are separately found in many other coronavirus variants, but they have been reported together for the first time only in India.

Hitherto, 77 cases of the B.1.617 variant have been detected in the UK.

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Despite the deteriorating Covid situation in India – and the uncertainties regarding the double mutant variant – the UK has so far not added the country to its travel red list, which would compel incoming travelers to the UK to quarantine at a hotel.

When pressed on the matter, Johnson tried to avoid the question by saying: "The red list is very much a matter for the independent UK Health Security Agency - they will have to take that decision".

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