Citing the need to oversee the Covid19  pandemic response at home on Tuesday, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson cancelled his Republic Day visit to India later this month. The development comes as Britain began its third Covid-19 lockdown on Tuesday, with citizens under orders to stay at home.

A 10 Downing Street spokeswoman said, “Prime Minister Boris Johnson spoke to Prime Minister Modi this morning, to express his regret that he will be unable to visit India later this month as planned.” Dominic Raab, the visiting British foreign secretary had announced in December that Johnson would be the chief guest at the Republic Day function for 2021 in New Delhi.

The spokeswoman at 10 Downing Street also added, “In light of the national lockdown announced last night, and the speed at which the new coronavirus variant is spreading, the prime minister said that it was important for him to remain in the UK so he can focus on the domestic response to the virus.”

The UK government has also said, “Prime Minister Boris Johnson hopes to be able to visit India in the first half of 2021, and ahead of the UK’s G7 Summit that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is due to attend as a guest.”

The last time a British premiere was the chief guest at the Republic Day function at New Delhi was in 1993, when Prime Minister John Major had attended the function. Choosing the Prime Minister of the UK was done keeping in mind the post- Brexit world order. The third lockdown implemented in the UK due to the surge of cases resulting from the new Coronavirus mutant played an instrumental role in the cancellation. Apart from in UK, two other mutants were detected in Nigeria and South Africa. The new coronavirus mutant in the UK has spread so fast that the National Health Service was overwhelmed within 21 days.