Indian Politician Claimed There’s A S’pore COVID-19 Strain That Can Cause a 3rd Wave in India

By
Shawn Ambrose
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Because of the platforms they have access to and the power they wield over people, politicians have a duty to speak the truth.

But, as you know, this is kind of like asking a doctor to write neatly.

Many politicians stretch the truth to paint themselves in a good light, while others, like this minister in India, share wrong information like uncles on WhatsApp.

Indian Politician Claimed There’s A S’pore COVID-19 Strain That Can Cause a 3rd Wave in India

Yesterday (18 May), Delhi’s Chief Minister warned the Indian central government of a new COVID-19 variant found in Singapore that could result in “India’s third wave”.

Mr Arvind Kejriwal said the new strain is extremely dangerous for children and implored the Indian government, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to immediately halt air travel with Singapore.

“The new form of Corona that came to Singapore is being said to be extremely dangerous for children, in India it may come as a third wave. My appeal to the central government is for air services with Singapore to be cancelled with immediate effect and to prioritise the options for vaccinating children at the earliest,” he tweeted.

Sounds scary, right? Well, there’s just one problem with this: there isn’t actually a Singapore COVID-19 strain (or not at the moment, anyway).

MOH: Uh… What?

Singapore’s Ministry of Health (MOH) issued a swift rebuttal of Mr Kejriwal’s claims later that day.

“There is no truth whatsoever in the assertions found within the reports. There is no ‘Singapore variant’,” a spokesman for MOH said.

“The strain that is prevalent in many of the COVID-19 cases in recent weeks is the B16172 variant, which originated in India. Phylogenetic testing has shown this B16172 variant to be associated with several clusters in Singapore,” the spokesman added.

Oof.

To know more about different virus variants and why they mutate, watch this video to the end:

International Flights to India Have Been Halted Since March 2020

In his tweet, Mr Kerjiwal urged the government to halt air travel with Singapore immediately.

But as Indian Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri pointed out, international flights to India have been halted since March last year.

What’s more, Singapore does not currently have an air travel bubble with India.

“We just bring back Indian people stranded there with some Vande Bharat flights. They are our own people. We still have an eye on the situation. All precautions are being taken,” Mr Singh said.

Clearly, the Delhi chief minister didn’t do his research before making his claims.

Netizens, both from India and Singapore, were none too pleased with the minister for spreading misinformation.

Some have called upon him to issue an apology and a retraction of his statements.

India’s COVID-19 numbers have been dropping drastically in the last few days, but a record number of deaths was recorded yesterday, with 4,329 patients losing their lives.

Only the US has has a worse single day death toll, when 5,444 people died on 12 February.

If there were a Singaporean variant of the COVID-19 strain, we’d certainly know about it. Everyone at bubble tea shops, Singapore Pools’ outlets, and those queuing outside any new fast food restaurant (read: the whole Singapore), would suddenly get infected if it were so.

Feature Image: Twitter (@ArvindKejriwal)

Here’s a simplified summary of the South Korea martial law that even a 5-year-old would understand:

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Shawn Ambrose
Email: [email protected]