LONDON (CU)_British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has decided to cancel his visit to India, which was scheduled for later this month, owing to the need to oversee United Kingdom’s domestic response to COVID-19, as the number of cases in the country continue to surge dramatically.
A spokeswoman for the Prime Minister’s office noted that Johnson had informed his Indian counterpart, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, regarding the change of plans on Tuesday (Jan 5), following a new national lockdown in England which was announced the day before.
“In light of the national lockdown announced last night, and the speed at which the new coronavirus variant is spreading, the prime minister said that it was important for him to remain in the UK so he can focus on the domestic response to the virus,” the spokeswoman said.
Nevertheless, she added that PM Johnson hopes to be able to visit India in the first half of 2021, and ahead of the G7 Summit hosted by the UK, for which, PM Modi is due to attend as a guest.
Last month, London announced PM Johnson’s intention to visit India in order to boost cooperation between the two countries and to accelerate trade talks, as UK continues to develop new bilateral deals with foreign nations after leaving the European Union.
However, since then, the COVID-19 crisis in the UK has worsened dramatically, as the country experiences a significant surge in cases fuelled by the new variant of the virus, which is said to be more transmissible.
Accordingly, PM Johnson on Monday, announced a new national lockdown in England, under which, most people are required to work from home, while most schools would also remain closed for students. Moreover, hospitality venues and non-essential shops are required to stay shut, under UK’s third national lockdown since the pandemic began.
Warning the UK is at a “critical moment”, the Prime Minister said that the country’s hospitals are under more pressure from the virus, than any time since the start of the pandemic.
“With most of the country already under extreme measures, it’s clear that we need to do more together to bring this new variant under control,” Johnson said.
The United Kingdom has registered more than 2.6 million COVID-19 cases and more than 82,000 deaths to date, and the new variant of the virus, which has caused infections to spiral dramatically, is reflected in the recent daily infections as the country registered more than 50,000 new cases for seven days in a row, with a record number of 58,784 new cases registered on Monday.
