“The Singapore Government prefers to deal with viruses and its variants in scientific terms" said the high commissioner Simon Wong Wie Kuen. Arvind Kejriwal’s remark on a new variant of Covid-19 found in Singapore and affecting children had set off a political storm

Simon Wong, Singapore High Commissioner to India, said on Wednesday that Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s recent comment regarding the new Covid variant reported in Singapore would have no impact on India-Singapore’s efforts to fight Covid-19 “hand-in-hand”. Wong also said that Singapore has continued to transport medical aid in a spirit of working together to combat the pandemic, which knows no political colour or boundary.

“It (Delhi CM's remarks) would not impact our (India-Singapore) hand-in-hand fight against Covid. As witnessed yesterday and today with transportation of medical aid, we're working together. Pandemic knows no boundary or political colour,” ANI said quoting Wong.

Arvind Kejriwal’s remark on a new variant of Covid-19 found in Singapore and affecting children had set off a political storm. Arindam Bagchi, the ministry of external affairs spokesperson, said on Twitter that the Singapore government has registered a strong objection to Kejriwal’s remarks. The Indian High Commissioner clarified that Kejriwal has no authority to make such remarks, a point reiterated by external affairs minister S Jaishankar.

Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday expressed concerns that children might be affected by a new strain of Covid-19, which has been found in Singapore.

The High Commissioner also said that the Singapore government had deliberated invoking their Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act to counter online misinformation but the Government of India’s clarification had been satisfactory hence the Act was not invoked.

“In Singapore, we have Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) to mitigate misinformation and we reserve the right to invoke POFMA on assertions made by CM (Delhi). However, we're satisfied with GoI's clarification,” said Wong.

As per World Health Organization’s practice, a strain does not get geographical names, as the practice focuses only on the scientific aspects of combating a pandemic rather than pointing fingers at anyone.

“The Singapore Government prefers to deal with viruses and its variants in scientific terms. We abide closely with WHO’s recommendation of not giving the virus any geographical name. We focus more on the scientific aspect rather than to put a finger on anyone” he added.

WHO had released a guideline in 2015 which advised against naming diseases, viruses or variants after the countries from which they originate as it could stigmatise the people living there.