Coronavirus cases detected among India’s G7 delegation

LONDON: India’s foreign minister has been forced to pull out of attending the G7 meeting in London in person after two positive coronavirus cases were detected in the country’s travelling delegation.

Subrahmanyam Jaishankar was participating virtually in the event after coming into contact with the suspected cases, although he has not tested positive. Although India is not a G7 member, it had been invited to attend the meeting of foreign ministers as a guest.

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said “we are all having to adapt in agile ways” as he welcomed Jaishankar, appearing on a screen, to the meeting.

There are strict coronavirus security measures in place at the Lancaster House summit, which is the first face-to-face meeting of G7 foreign ministers for more than two years.

The two Indian cases were picked up by advance testing and none of the party had attended the summit venue.

Jaishankar tweeted: “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.”

A senior UK diplomat said: “We deeply regret that foreign minister Dr Jaishankar will be unable to attend the meeting today in person and will now attend virtually, but this is exactly why we have put in place strict Covid protocols and daily testing.”

During the visit to the UK, the Indian delegation had other meetings but Public Health England has assessed that social distancing and mask-wearing meant there was no need for any further action.

Home Secretary Priti Patel met the Indian foreign minister on Tuesday, but she has not been told to self-isolate.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said: “I do think we need to ask questions about how this happened, if only to make sure it is not repeated. It is a reminder of how vigilant we need to be about our borders – we’ve been challenging Government on this for some months.”

Coronavirus measures in place at the foreign ministers’ meeting include regular testing and cleaning – one insider joked there was “hand sanitiser running down the walls” of Lancaster House – and clear plastic screens between ministers at the summit table.

Face masks were worn for the official photograph and handshakes have been replaced by forearm bumps to avoid the risk of contamination.

Ministers from the G7 – the UK, US, Canada, Japan, France, Germany and Italy – have been urged to do more to help poorer countries vaccinate their citizens.

Former prime minister Gordon Brown and World Health Organisation chief Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus have called on the wealthy nations to step up contributions to the international effort.

Raab has stressed the UK’s commitment to the Covax initiative, which distributes coronavirus jabs to developing nations.