The comment of the Delhi Chief Minister on Singapore strain has led to an exchange of barbs and criticisms between the External affairs minister of India and the Delhi government.

Appreciating Singapore’s role as a logistics hub and oxygen supplier, India’s EAM S. Jaishankar said, “Irresponsible comments from those who should know better can damage long-standing partnerships. So, let me clarify- Delhi CM does not speak for India.’’

Deputy CM Manish Sisodia hit back accusing the Centre of being bothered only about its “image in Singapore”, hours after External Affairs Minister slammed Delhi Chief Minister for his remarks on “Singapore strain.”

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Saying that a new “Singapore strain” of the Coronavirus was “extremely dangerous for children”, Delhi’s chief minister Arvind Kejriwal had called for a halt to flights. The Delhi CM had added that it could result in the third wave of infection in India.

Singapore’s ministry of health has refuted about the strain and reacted strongly to the claims.

In a statement, Singapore’s Ministry of Health 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. Phylogenetic testing has shown this B.1.617.2 variant to be associated with several clusters in Singapore.” The statement further added, “There is no ‘Singapore variant’.”

Singapore’s Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan commented, “Politicians should stick to facts”, pointing to the comment made by Kejriwal.

Deputy CM of Delhi, Sisodia said, “Centre is worried about its image in Singapore but not about children under threat from COVID strain. It did not consider alerts about COVID London strain and many lost their family members due to it.” He stated that the Centre was doing “cheap politics.”

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On Tuesday, India reported 4,529 deaths, the highest so far in a day. Maharashtra has reported over 1,300 deaths, nearly half of which were more than a week old. Karnataka reported a total of 525 deaths, while Tamil Nadu added 364 to the toll. Over 2.67 lakh fresh cases of Covid19 were reported in the country. While Tamil Nadu recorded more than 33,000 cases, the states of Karnataka and Kerala both reported over 30,000 new cases. Maharashtra, which was leading the list of new cases for months, reported the country’s fourth highest case count with 28,438 new infections. The total number of active cases in the country dropped further to 32.26 lakh.

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On Tuesday, GOI said that around 200 districts have been reporting a decline in cases for the last two weeks. After consistently increasing for the past 13 weeks, the country’s overall case positivity has registered a decline over the past seven days.

Dr V K Paul, head of India’s Covid-19 Task Force said that the “pandemic curve is stabilizing”, and that the reproduction number (R) has now fallen below 1. He further added, “This means the pandemic is shrinking overall.”