E-Paper
No new Covid strain detected here, Singapore health ministry counters Kejriwal
Kejriwal had requested the Centre to immediately suspend flights from Singapore because of an alleged new strain, which was suspected to affect children, being detected in that country.
Singapore on Tuesday dismissed Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s assertion about a new Coronavirus strain being detected in that country, and said the variant prevalent in many Covid-19 cases in recent weeks was the “B.1.617.2 variant, which originated in India”.
Kejriwal had requested the Centre to immediately suspend flights from Singapore because of an alleged new strain, which was suspected to affect children, being detected in that country. He contended that the alleged new strain could lead to a third wave of infections in India and said the Centre should focus on identifying vaccines for children.
A statement issued by Singapore’s health ministry cited Indian media reports quoting Kejriwal and said: “There is no truth whatsoever in the assertions found within the reports.”
The statement added: “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.”
Union aviation minister Hardeep Puri had responded to Kejriwal’s remarks by saying that there were no regular flights between India and Singapore, except for a few under the Vande Bharat mission to repatriate Indian nationals.
Kejriwal had said in a tweet in Hindi: “The new form of Covid-19 that has come to Singapore is being 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 be cancelled with immediate effect 2. Priority on vaccine options should be worked out for children too.”
