India official under fire for tweet on Singapore COVID variant risk

City-state protests while India's top diplomat calls comment 'irresponsible'

20210519 indian sailors

Indian seafarers arrive at Changi Airport to fly home last year: Singapore relies on migrant workers from India and other countries. © Reuters

DYLAN LOH, Nikkei staff writer

SINGAPORE -- An Indian politician's suggestion on social media that his country should shut its borders to Singapore due to a supposedly new COVID-19 variant has drawn fire from both the city-state and his own central government.

On Tuesday, Delhi's Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal wrote on Twitter that a "new form of corona that came to Singapore is being said to be extremely dangerous for children," adding that "in India it may come as a third wave."

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