Singapore on Wednesday refuted claims by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal that a new Covid strain has been found in Singapore which is dangerous for children. Singapore health ministry said that there was no truth in Kejriwal’s assertion.
Following Singapore’s strong response to Delhi CM’s claims, India’s Minister of External Affairs Dr S Jaishankar clarified that “Delhi CM does not speak for India.”
Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday appealed to the Centre to cancel all flights to and from Singapore, citing concerns over a new strain of coronavirus that is said to be dangerous for children.
“The new form of Corona that came to Singapore is said to be extremely dangerous for children, in India it may come as a third wave. My appeal to the central government: 1. Air services with Singapore to be cancelled with immediate effect 2. Vaccine options should be worked out for children too,” Kejriwal tweeted.
This was immediately denied on Tuesday night by Singapore’s Health Ministry, which 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.”
Official Spokesperson, Ministry of External Affairs, Arindam Bagchi, tweeted, “Singapore Government called in our High Commissioner today to convey strong objection to Delhi CM’s tweet on “Singapore variant”. High Commissioner clarified that Delhi CM had no competence to pronounce on Covid variants or civil aviation policy.”
