UK PM not to call off India visit
Downing Street on Friday confirmed that the forthcoming visit of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to India will go ahead amidst demands that it be called off due to a surge in new infections there and the detection of 77 cases of the Indian Covid-19 variant in the United Kingdom.
Experts have expressed surprise that India is not on the UK’S ‘red list’ of countries from where travel is banned to prevent importation of new variants. The list was updated in early April with the addition of Pakistan, Bangladesh, and the Philippines.
A PM’S spokesman said on asked about India not being on the list: “We add and remove countries based on the latest scientific data and public health advice from a range of the world’s leading experts.”
He said, “We keep it under constant review, and we won’t hesitate to introduce tougher restrictions and add countries if we think it is necessary.”
He added: “The PM’S visit is still happening later this month. We have said that the programme will be slightly shorter than it will have been, and you can expect the main body of his programme to take place on Monday (April 26). As you would expect, safety is obviously important and is a priority for us on this trip, which is why we will make sure that all elements of the visit are Covid-secure.”
As Britain eased restrictions earlier this week following a sharp fall in new infections, hospitalisations, and deaths from SARS-COV-2, which causes Covoid-19, in recent weeks, public health authorities on Thursday announced 77 cases of the variant first detected in India, designating it as a “variant under investigation”.
Public Health England (PHE), the executive body under the Department of Health and Social Care, said on Thursday evening that the India variant, known as B.1.617, includes a number of mutations including E484Q, L452R, and P681R.
Paul Hunter, professor of medicine at the University of East Anglia (UEA), said the variant featured two “escape mutations” — E484Q and L452R — that are causing people to be concerned: “There’s laboratory evidence that both of these are escape mutations. Basically, applying what we know about other human coronaviruses would suggest that this is going to be even less controlled by the vaccine. But we don’t know that for certain at the moment.”
The duration of Johnson’s visit has been curtailed from four days to a day on April 26, when he is due to meet his Indian counterpart Minister Narendra Modi, and seek trade concessions, as the UK forges its new global path after Brexit.