The government is alert and there is no need to panic, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said on December 21 amid concerns over the new coronavirus strain in the U.K..
Also read: Coronavirus, December 21 updates
He said the government had done everything that was important to handle the COVID-19 situation in the last one year.
Responding to a question on the panic over the new strain and a demand to ban flights from the U.K., Mr. Vardhan told reporters, “I would say this to all that all these imaginary situations, imaginary talks, imaginary panic... don’t involve yourself in this.”
Interactive map of confirmed coronavirus cases in India
“The government is fully conscious about everything. If you ask me, there is no reason to panic the way we are seeing in this press conference,” the Minister added.
Ban all flights from U.K.: Kejriwal
Earlier in the day, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal demanded that the Centre ban all flights from the U.K. immediately in view of the emergence of a mutated variant of the coronavirus there.
"New mutation of coronavirus has emerged in U.K., which is a super-spreader. I urge Central govt to ban all flights from U.K. immediately," Mr. Kejriwal had tweeted.
A number of European countries have banned flights from the U.K. as the British government warned that the potent new strain of the virus was "out of control" and imposed a stringent new stay-at-home lockdown from December 20.
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