Boris Johnson cancels his visit to India
Deccan ChronicleNew Delhi: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday cancelled his visit to India scheduled for April 26 and the UK added India to its Covid-19 travel "red list", effectively banning all travel from the country and making a 10-day hotel quarantine compulsory for UK residents arriving in the country. A BBC report quoted Mr Johnson as saying it was “only sensible” to cancel the visit in view of the raging pandemic in India which is battling a ferocious second wave of the Covid pandemic. UK health secretary Matt Hancock confirmed the move to put India on its "red list" in the House of Commons as he revealed that 103 cases of the so-called "Indian variant" had been identified in the UK, of which the "vast majority have links to international travel". In December last year, the foreign ministers of the two nations had held discussions in New Delhi on five broad themes — connecting people, trade, defence and security, climate and health including the cooperation on the Covid vaccines, with both nations also “agreeing on key elements of a 10 year India-UK roadmap”.