Centre distances itself from Arvind Kejriwal’s Singapore COVID variant concerns

The External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, describing Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal’s Singapore COVID variant concerns as “irresponsible”, has once again highlighted that India’s image and its relations with foreign countries is “valuable”.

Kejriwal on Tuesday said a variant of the novel coronavirus found in Singapore, which is potentially dangerous to children, could usher in a third wave in the country. As such, he urged the central government to suspend flights to and from Singapore. However, the Centre said the Delhi CM had “no competence to pronounce on COVID variants or civil aviation policy”.

Singapore’s Health Ministry, late Tuesday night, said there is no truth whatsoever in the assertions found within the reports. “There is no Singapore variant. The strain that is prevalent in many of the COVID-19 cases in recent weeks is the B.1.617.2 variant, which originated in India. Phylogenetic testing has shown this B.1.617.2 variant to be associated with several clusters in Singapore.”

Moreover, the Singapore Government called on the Indian High Commission to strongly object to Kejriwal’s tweet about the so-called Singapore variant. Reports state that the Indian High Commissioner clarified that that the Delhi CM had no competence to pronounce on COVID variants or civil aviation policy.

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To prevent straining of relations between the two countries, Jaishankar stepped in. “Singapore and India have been solid partners in the fight against COVID-19. Appreciate  Singapore’s role as a logistics hub and oxygen supplier. Their gesture of deploying military aircraft to help us speaks of our exceptional relationship,” he said. “However, irresponsible comments from those who should know better can damage long-standing partnerships. So let me clarify – Delhi CM does not speak for India.”