New Delhi: While external affairs minister, S. Jaishankar, is self-isolating amidst reports of two Indian delegates testing positive for Covid-19 in London, there is no clarity on where the infection took place and whether it will lead to an extended overseas stay for India’s external affairs minister.
On Tuesday afternoon, his tweet indicated that his engagements would only be virtual as he had been “made aware yesterday evening of exposure to possible Covid positive cases”.
Was made aware yesterday evening of exposure to possible Covid positive cases. As a measure of abundant caution and also out of consideration for others, I decided to conduct my engagements in the virtual mode. That will be the case with the G7 Meeting today as well.
— Dr. S. Jaishankar (@DrSJaishankar) May 5, 2021
Jaishankar, thus, also took part in the G-7 meeting virtually, tweeting a photograph of the meet.
Jaishankar is on a trip to the UK from May 3 to 6 to participate in the G-7 foreign ministers meeting, where India has been invited as a guest country.
Meanwhile, the British government was quoted by Reuters as stating that India’s entire delegation is self-isolating after two members tested positive for Covid-19.
“Two delegates tested positive, so the entire delegation is now self-isolating,” a British official said.
There is no official confirmation from MEA about the reports of infected cases among the Indian delegation.
Official sources stated that the four-member Indian delegation was also tested before they left Indian shores. “Their test results came negative on Sunday,” they said.
While refusing to confirm the news reports of two Indian delegates being positive, Indian sources claimed that it was not a “straightforward case of a flying in with an infected person”.
According to Sky News’s Joe Pike, the Indian delegation had been given diplomatic exemptions from quarantine rules on arrivals. The UK prescribes a mandatory ten-day quarantine for all entrants. India was put on the red-list of countries from whom all travel is banned in late April, but exemptions can be made for “representatives of foreign country” travelling on official business.
As part of Covid protocols, all official delegations were being tested daily. The detection of the two positive cases was done based on PCR tests conducted by Public Health England. Sources stated that testing and tracing of all contacts were still being conducted – and therefore, there was still confusion over whether Jaishankar’s return plans will be impacted.
In January, India had put in place rules that all travellers from the UK to India have to mandatorily show a negative RT-PCR test before arrival. They were also to be tested on reaching India, with a mandatory quarantine period.
Following the news, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson defended the holding of the first in-person meeting of the G-7 summit in two years, which British officials had touted was “covid-secure”. He asserted that it is “very important to try to continue as much business as you can as a government”.
He stated that the UK had an “important relationship with India”, adding that he would be “seeing the Indian foreign minister later”, virtually.
The UK Foreign Office issued a statement that it deeply regretted that Jaishankar could not attend the G-7 meeting in person, “but this is exactly why we have put in place strict COVID protocols and daily testing.”
According to Jaishankar’s Twitter timeline, the last photographs he posted of in-person meetings were with South African foreign minister Naledi Pandor, UK home secretary Priti Patel and US secretary of state Anthony Blinken.
The foreign official that Jaishankar met is not in self-isolation, as the meetings had followed PHE covid protocols of masking and social-distancing, said UK media reports.