Boris Johnson cancels visit to India due to Covid crisis in England
Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, has been forced to cancel his trip to India, the PM’s first major foreign trip since the formal end of the Brexit transition period.
The official reason for the cancellation is the surging Covid-19 pandemic in the UK driven by the new and potent variant, popularly referred to as the “British Virus”.
On Monday (January 04), Johnson ordered a seven-week lockdown to contain the rapid spread of the new Covid-19 variant, the third national lockdown in England since March 2020.
The cancellation of the India trip is a major blow to Johnson and the British government in so far as it was heralded as “global” Britain’s first major international outreach in the post-Brexit world.
To that end, Johnson’s planned meeting with Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, was billed as an opportunity to “kick off a significant year for global Britain on the world stage”.
According to a Downing Street statement: “The prime minister spoke to prime minister Modi this morning, to express his regret that he will be unable to visit India later this month as planned”.
“In light of the national lockdown announced last night [January 04], 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 statement continued.
However, in a hint that Johnson’s top priority is to meet Modi in the first half of this year, the Downing Street statement added: “The leaders underlined their shared commitment to the bilateral relationship, and to continuing to build on the close collaboration between our countries – including in response to the pandemic”.
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