Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday stirred up a controversy when he said a new strain of coronavirus has been found in Singapore, which can cause the third wave in India and is “very dangerous” for children. He also had appealed to the centre to immediately cancel all air services with Singapore. The tweet by Delhi’s CM triggered a grave reaction from Indian Union ministers, the Singapore government as well as Singapore people.
"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," Mr Kejriwal had said in a Hindi tweet on Tuesday.
Here is who said what about this controversy.
Singapore's health ministry said there is no truth about any Singapore variant. The strain is B.1.617.2, which was detected in India.
Niti Aayog (health) member VK Paul said experts are looking into the issue.
Foreign minister S Jaishankar terming Kejriwal’s comments as "irresponsible" without naming him, Jaishankar stated that he should know better that such remarks could break the long-standing relationships between India and Singapore in the fight against the pandemic. He also mentioned Singapore's role as a logistics hub and oxygen supplier and showed gratitude to Singapore for deploying military aircraft in India's needs.
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Union civil aviation minister Hardeep Singh Puri reminded Kejriwal that all international passenger flights to and from India have been barred since last year when international borders were closed after coronavirus alerts. He said India has no air bubble with Singapore and only flights under Vande Bharat are operational to bring back the stranded Indians. All precautions are being taken by the government, he further added.
Arindam Bagchi, the spokesperson of the ministry of external affairs said Delhi chief minister doesn’t speak for India. Bagchi in response to Kejriwal’s claim tweeted, “Singapore Government called in our High Commissioner today to convey strong objection to Delhi CM's tweet on "Singapore variant". The High Commissioner clarified that Delhi CM had no competence to pronounce on Covid variants or civil aviation policy.”
Singapore's foreign minister Vivian Balakrishnan said politicians should stick to facts.
Also Read: Irresponsible comments from Arvind Kejriwal, says govt after Singapore objects to new strain claim
Delhi deputy chief minister of Delhi Manish Sisodia has slammed the Centre for shifting focus from the approaching threat of a predicted third wave of coronavirus that the experts think would impact the children. The centre has changed the course to foreign policy, Sisodia said. "Had the foreign ministry been as quick to get vaccines from other countries as it was in reacting to Kejriwal's statement, the children of the country would have got vaccines," he said?