MFA lodges complaint with New Delhi over claims 'Singapore variant' would cause third Covid wave in India

SINGAPORE'S Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) has expressed its disappointment to India's High Commissioner over the Delhi chief minister's unfounded claims about a COVID-19 variant found in Singapore.

In a press statement on Wednesday, MFA said it "regrets the unfounded assertions made on Facebook and Twitter" by Mr Kejriwal that a "variant of COVID-19 found in Singapore was particularly harmful to children and could cause a third wave of infections in India".

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had claimed that a new Covid variant detected in Singapore may "come as a third wave" in India, without citing any medical evidence nor authority.

In its statement, MFA said it was "disappointed that a prominent political figure had failed to ascertain the facts before making such claims". "MFA met the High Commissioner of India P Kumaran this morning to express these concerns."

Late on Tuesday, the Ministry of Health (MOH) had also issued a statement refuting the claims, saying there is "no truth whatsoever" in the assertions found within the reports.

In response to media queries on reports by the Hindustan Times and NDTV on Tuesday, MOH said "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".

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"Phylogenetic testing has shown this B.1.617.2 variant to be associated with several clusters in Singapore," added MOH.

In his tweet, the minister added that he is appealing to the central government to take "immediate" measures, including suspension of flights to and from Singapore.

Priority on vaccine options should be worked out for children too, he added.

The government's Principal Scientific Adviser K Vijay Raghavan has warned that a third wave is "inevitable", adding that vaccines be "updated" to deal with new strains.

Even without a "third wave", India has hit 270,000 deaths, according to latest figures. It has 25 million reported cases and on Monday alone, 263,000 new cases were reported.

"Phase three is inevitable given the higher levels of circulating virus, but it is not clear on what time-scale this phase three will occur. We should be prepared for new waves," Mr Raghavan said. He later added that the country might avoid it if the right measures were rolled out now.

Most nations have not given the green light for any Covid vaccine for children. Last week, the US authorised Pfizer and BioNTech's vaccine for use in children aged 12 to 15. Canada is expected to follow.

On May 13, India gave clearance for Covaxin trials on children aged between two years and 18 years. Most states, including Delhi, though, are struggling with a vaccine shortage. Covaxin stocks in Delhi for the 18-44-year age group was exhausted last week.