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Covid: Boris Johnson's

India visit to go ahead
despite rise in cases
16 April

Coronavirus pandemic

EPA

Boris Johnson's visit to India will still go ahead

later this month despite the country's soaring
coronavirus cases and a new variant there, No
10 says.

Public Health England says 73 cases of the

variant first identified in India have been found
in England and four in Scotland.

Officials have called it a "variant under

investigation" rather than "of concern".

The PM had already scaled down his trip due to

India's rising number of cases.

The country has reported more than 150,000

Covid cases a day for the past three weeks.

New 'double mutant' Covid variant found in

India

India's Covid-19 patients turn to black

market

South Africa coronavirus variant: What's the

risk?

Speaking about the prime minister's visit to

India, a No 10 spokesman said the trip was
already "slightly shorter than it will have been".

Mr Johnson was due to spend four days in the

south Asian country but aRer talks with
Narendra Modi's administration, the "bulk" of
meetings will take place on one day - Monday,
26 April.

"As you would expect, safety is obviously

important and is a priority for us on this trip,
which is why we will make sure that all elements
of the visit are Covid-secure," the spokesman
said.

Public Health England has designated the

B.1.617 variant as a "variant under investigation"
and said there was currently no evidence to
suggest it caused more severe disease or that
vaccines were less likely to work against it.

Officials said "all appropriate public health

interventions will be undertaken, including
enhanced contact tracing" aRer its detection,
with PHE and international partners monitoring
the situation "closely".

Analysis: What do we know

about the Indian variant?
By Philippa Roxby, health reporter, BBC News

Viruses mutate all the time in a bid to survive.

The challenge for scientists is to work out which
mutations change how the coronavirus behaves.

Do they alter how the virus spreads, for

example, do they cause people to become more
seriously ill, and could they evade the protection
of vaccines?

These are all questions experts will now try to

answer about the Indian variant by carrying out
experiments in the lab and looking at data on
cases in the real world.

So far, we know that it has two mutations - the

first, E484Q is similar to one found in the
Brazilian, South African and Kent variants - and
the second, L452R has been found in a variant in
California.

That means it could be a concern based on what

is known about those variants already.

But the "double mutation" on its own isn't

unusual and has been found in other variants.

Covid vaccines are still very effective at reducing

the risk of serious illness and manufacturers
plan to update their vaccines in response to the
most worrying new variants.

Paul Hunter, professor of medicine at the

University of East Anglia, said the variant first
identified in India featured two "escape
mutations" which "are causing people to be
concerned".

"If you think about where the main variants have

arisen - South Africa, the UK, California, Brazil,
and now India - all of these are countries that
have really struggled to keep case numbers
down," Prof Hunter said.

Why do new variants of Covid-19 keep appearing?

Laura Foster explains

"So it's not surprising. India has got a huge

pandemic, and therefore that's where you're
going to be getting the variant."

Coronavirus cases have risen sharply in India in

the past few weeks as the country battles a
second wave.

There have been more than 13.9 million

confirmed coronavirus cases in India and
172,000 people have died.

India coronavirus: "A Covid tsunami we had never

seen before"

The country is not on the UK government's "red

list" for travel. This refuses entry to people who
have been in those countries in the previous 10
days and means a 10-day hotel quarantine for
British or Irish nationals, or people with UK
residency rights, returning.

Asked why India had not been put on the red

list, Downing Street said the situation was
"under constant review".

"We add and remove countries based on the

latest scientific data and public health advice
from a range of world-leading experts," a
spokesman said.

Related Topics

Boris Johnson India

Coronavirus pandemic

More on this story

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India

25 March

India's Covid-19 patients turn to black market

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