Rekindling our kinship with india is vital — but the pandemic trumps politics | thearticle

Has the Government delayed closing the borders to India too long for political reasons? The short answer is: we do not know. Labour politicians have been quick to condemn the Prime Minister

for omitting India from the red list until Friday, despite the emergence of a worrying new coronavirus mutation from the subcontinent. India is undergoing a huge wave of Covid infections —

200,000 to 300,000 a day — and with 900 visitors arriving in the UK daily, the “Indian variant” is probably already spreading here too.  Yet Boris Johnson has only just cancelled his own

visit to finalise a trade deal with Narendra Modi — a post-Brexit consummation devoutly to be wished. Did the chimera of a prime ministerial summit distract Johnson the diplomatist from his

primary duty to keep the British public safe? Or did Boris the politician fear alienating Asian voters just before nationwide elections on May 6? To be fair to ministers, the scientific

consensus on the so-called Indian variant is not yet clear. So far, only just over 100 cases have been detected in Britain — too few for researchers to be certain about its characteristics.

We do not yet know whether it is resistant to Covid vaccines, nor whether it is more infectious than other strains of virus. Worryingly, some cases appear to have been infected here in the

UK, suggesting that it may already be established in some communities. Comparisons with the impact of other variants from Brazil and South Africa suggest that vaccination may well protect

those who acquire the Indian variant from serious disease. But as lockdown and social distancing are eased, making a rise in infections among those not yet vaccinated likely anyway, this is

no time for complacency. The situation is complicated by the politics of the subcontinent. Pakistan and Bangladesh were added to the red list weeks ago, but India was not. Yet India is now

the epicentre of Covid in Asia. The official total of 172,000 deaths is relatively low for a population of more than a billion, but it is certain to rise rapidly and health services in the

major cities are already stretched to the limit. The Indian government is proud of its containment of the pandemic last year, but this second wave seems to have caught officials by surprise.

As a Hindu nationalist, the Prime Minister has preferred to let religious festivals continue without precautionary measures rather than risk his own popularity. But Modi can be touchy — and

ruthless. Now that visitors from India are to be quarantined, he may well feel less warmly towards the British. The immediate impact of any such froideur is that five million doses of

AstraZeneca vaccine, due to be imported from pharmaceutical plants in India, are now unlikely to be released. This delay has already slowed down the UK vaccination programme; if these and

future supplies are diverted for use in India, where the need is unquestionably greater, the effects will be felt here well into the summer.  The British Government has been careful not to

criticise Delhi for its export ban, while its tone in dealing with Brussels on this issue has been brusque. Not everyone here appreciates what they see as kid-glove treatment for Narendra

Modi. In particular, British Muslims with roots in Kashmir are highly critical of his government, while some with Pakistani or Bangladeshi heritage resent what they see as India’s

preferential treatment. Above-average levels of Covid plus below-average levels of vaccination in Asian communities add to the political sensitivities. No wonder Downing Street has been

reluctant to rush in where angels fear to tread. It is so much easier for the Opposition to criticise than for the Government to get the balance right. At the very least, however, the

authorities should be devoting all necessary resources to controlling the borders and isolating cases of the new variant. Delaying restrictions for a few days may be justifiable as a

humanitarian gesture, but it must not be at the expense of allowing super-spreaders into the community. Might leading figures of Anglo-Indian heritage here make an extra effort to explain

why family visits must be postponed for the present? The British public has already let down its guard, perhaps too much so. It is true that another milestone has just been crossed: 10

million people have now received their second jab. The slowdown in first doses means that the under-50s may have longer to wait. So far, numbers of cases and deaths here have continued to

fall. Compared to last September, when the pandemic statistics were last at this level, we are incomparably better protected and prepared. The warm weather also seems to reduce the virulence

of the virus. But the possibility of a new wave cannot be ruled out: viz. not only India but other countries in the southern hemisphere. The global death toll has now passed the three

million mark. The world is still not out of the woods — and that means neither is the UK. A MESSAGE FROM THEARTICLE _We are the only publication that’s committed to covering every angle. We

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