UK PM Johnson cancels Republic Day visit to India citing need to oversee virus response

This would have been Johnson's first visit to India since he took office

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has cancelled his visit to New Delhi in view of an alarming rise in the number of coronavirus infections in the United Kingdom.

Johnson called up Prime Minister Narendra Modi and expressed regret that he would not be able to visit New Delhi in the last week of this month as planned. He had last month officially accepted an invitation from Modi to attend India’s Republic Day ceremony on January 26.

The office of the British Prime Minister issued a statement in London stating that he had decided to cancel the visit as it was important for him to remain in the UK so that he could focus on his government’s response to the new coronavirus strain.

It is still not clear if New Delhi would invite another foreign leader or break with the tradition of having one as the chief guest for the Republic Day ceremony.

Modi and Johnson were expected to announce a new India-UK Enhanced Trade Partnership – a prelude to a Free Trade Agreement – during the British Prime Minister’s visit to New Delhi. The UK was relying heavily on the visit and the proposed “early harvest” trade deal with India to boost post-Brexit and post-Covid-19 economic recovery.

Johnson, however, conveyed to Modi on Tuesday that he had to call off the visit in view of the national lockdown announced last night and the speed at which the new coronavirus variant was spreading. He, however, expressed hope that he would be able to visit New Delhi in the first half of 2021 and ahead of the G-7 summit, which the British Government would host and which the Prime Minister of India would attend.

The new strain of the coronavirus wreaked havoc in the UK with over 50000 new cases of infection being reported everyday over the past week. The country recorded 58784 new Covid-19 cases on Monday, taking the total number of people infected by the virus to 2654783 with 75024 deaths so far. Altogether 407 Covid-19 deaths were reported across the UK only on Monday.

The British Government on Monday announced new lockdown in England to contain the Covid-19 outbreak. The new stringent restrictions were also imposed in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

“(The) Prime Minister expressed his understanding of the exceptional situation in the UK, and conveyed his best wishes for the quick control of the pandemic spread,” the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) stated in New Delhi. Modi also told Johnson that he would look forward to receiving him in India at the earliest opportunity after normalisation of the situation.

They reviewed ongoing cooperation between both countries, including in the area of making Covid-19 vaccines available for the world. They reiterated their “shared belief in the potential of the India-UK partnership in the post-Brexit and post-Covid context, and agreed to work towards a comprehensive roadmap for realising this potential”, the MEA spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said.

“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,” the office of the British Prime Minister stated.