Boris Johnson’s planned visit to India next week has been canceled due to the escalation of the country’s coronavirus crisis, a joint statement from the United Kingdom and India said.
“Given the current state of the coronavirus, Prime Minister Boris Johnson will not be able to travel to India next week,” the statement released by Downing Street said.
“Instead, prime ministers [Narendra] Modi and Johnson will speak later this month to agree and launch their ambitious plans for a future UK-India partnership. They will stay in regular contact beyond this and look forward to meeting you later this year. ”
On Friday, number 10 insisted that the journey will continue. However, Johnson was under increasing pressure to cancel it.
The prime minister said it was frustrating to have to cancel the trip, but said much of the work could be done remotely before he and Modi could meet in the future.
Speaking to reporters on a visit to Gloucestershire, Johnson said: “The red list is very much a matter for the UK Independent Health Safety Agency – they will have to make that decision. But Narendra Modi and I concluded that, unfortunately, I would not be able to continue the journey. I think it is reasonable to postpone, given what happened in India, the form of the pandemic there.
“Countries around the world, including ours, have been through this. I think everyone has a lot of sympathy for India, what’s going on. ”
New coronavirus cases in India reached more than 273,000 on Monday, a doubling of the peak of new infections during the country’s first wave in September last year. Concerns about a variant of coronavirus first detected in India, now present in the UK, have led some scientists to argue that the country should already be on the “red list” of states subject to the strictest travel restrictions.
Delhi will impose a one-week blockade starting Monday night, officials said, as the city struggles to contain a huge increase in Covid-19 cases, with hospitals depleted of beds and declining oxygen supplies.
Number 10 has not already reduced his plans for the trip, which was to be Johnson’s first major visit abroad since becoming prime minister in 2019.
Late last week, Downing Street said the trip to India would be “slightly shorter” than planned, and now most major meetings were to take place in one day – Monday, April 26th.
The announcement highlighted for many Indians the extent of the catastrophic revival of the virus in their country in recent weeks, which has downplayed the prospect of progress towards a free trade agreement between the two countries.
Even before its second wave, Delhi was not thought to be in a hurry to sign a trade deal unless it included a promise of more visas for Indian workers, a prospect of successive British governments being reluctant to accept.
The Modi government, which prematurely signaled victory over Covid-19 earlier this year, has been under pressure to reduce public events and take control of the health crisis, with more than 200,000 new cases every day, a doubling of peak of new infections during the first wave of the country in September last year.
On Sunday, Shadow Communities Secretary Steve Reed said the trip should be abandoned due to the situation with Covid. Speaking at Sky’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday, Reed said Johnson should give up the trip because “everyone in public life should try to set an example.”
He said: “There are new variants that are appearing all over the world. The government tells people not to travel unless you have to travel at all. I don’t see why the prime minister can’t work with the Indian government by Zoom. ”