UK PM Boris Johnson cancels his visit to India amid COVID-19 surge

A statement from the Ministry of External Affairs reads, "In view of the COVID-19 situation, it has been decided by mutual agreement that the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom will not visit India next week."

Moneycontrol News

April 19, 2021 / 15:14 IST

UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has decided to cancel his visit to India, amid a sharp spike in COVID-19 cases in India. His visit, which was already shortened, was scheduled to begin on April 25.

Downing Street had confirmed a much shorter schedule for the UK prime minister's visit, with the bulk of the programme, including talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi set for a day-long agenda on April 26.

However, now a statement from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has confirmed that Johnson will not be visiting India. The statement from MEA reads"In view of the COVID-19 situation, it has been decided by mutual agreement that the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom will not visit India next week. The two sides will be holding a virtual meeting in the coming days to launch plans for a transformed India-UK relationship".

On April 18, Britain's Opposition Labour Party joined calls for Prime Minister Johnson to cancel his visit to India amid growing concerns of a new variant of COVID-19 detected in the UK.

Public Health England (PHE) has said that 77 cases of the so-called double mutant Indian variant have been detected in the UK since last month and that it has now been classed as a Variant Under Investigation (VUI).

COVID-19 Vaccine

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A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine.

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