New Delhi (NVI): Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan today said that the government was on alert about the new strain of coronavirus that has emerged in the United Kingdom and asked people not to panic.
The variant has triggered concern and prompted several countries to ban travel to and from the UK.
Speaking at the curtain-raiser for the 6th India International Science Festival-2020 (IISF 2020), Vardhan said, “As of now, there is no need to get involved with these imaginary situations, imaginary panic. The Centre is alert and there is no need to panic about it.”
“The government is fully conscious about everything. If you ask me, there is no reason to panic the way we are seeing in this press conference,” the minister said, adding that the government had done everything that was important to handle the COVID-19 situation in the last one year.
Shortly before Vardhan’s appeal, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal urged the Centre to immediately ban all flights from the UK over the “super-spreader” mutation.
The United Kingdom announced a surprise lockdown on Saturday in London and parts of the country amid a surge in the cases of the coronavirus disease after the discovery of a new strain of the Sars-CoV-2 virus, which causes Covid-19.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that Christmas shopping and gatherings in London and southern England must be canceled.
Several European Union nations and Canada have barred travel from the UK and others were considering similar action, in order to block the new strain of coronavirus which has been sweeping across southern England from spreading to the continent.
France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Ireland and Bulgaria all announced restrictions on UK travel.
-CHK
