Highlights:
- The G7 summit of the Group of Seven — comprising Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, US and UK as well as the European Union
- Two members of the small delegation who was accompanying the Foreign Minister tested positive for COVID-19
- Foreign Minister S Jaishankar tweets and breaks out the news as well
India’s Foreign Minister S Jaishankar has tweeted that he has been exposed to possible COVID-19 positive people during his visit to the UK for G7 summit. Jaishankar had reached London on Monday for a four-day visit to join the G7 Foreign and Development Ministers’ meeting.
On Thursday, he was scheduled to meet the UK Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab, at Chevening in Kent, which will now be held online due to the recent development.
The tweet from India’s Foreign Minister read, “Was made aware yesterday evening of exposure to possible Covid positive cases. As a measure of abundant caution and also out of consideration for others, I decided to conduct my engagements in the virtual mode. That will be the case with the G7 Meeting today as well.”
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Was made aware yesterday evening of exposure to possible Covid positive cases. As a measure of abundant caution and also out of consideration for others, I decided to conduct my engagements in the virtual mode. That will be the case with the G7 Meeting today as well.
— Dr. S. Jaishankar (@DrSJaishankar) May 5, 2021
As per reports, two members of the small delegation accompanying the Foreign Minister tested positive for the novel Coronavirus.
The summit of the Group of Seven – comprising Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Uk and the US as well as the European Union – was pitched as the first in-person summit since the pandemic broke back in 2020. It was also the first meeting for the G7 ministers and was slated to be held at a COVID-secure venue.
The protocols at the venue include daily testing of staff as well as the delegates. An on-site testing facility has also been set up that can test as many as 50 delegates per hour.
Along with them, there are also stern social distancing rules for the whole summit and delegates often separated by Perspex screens in the meetings as well as during working lunches and dinners. The scale of the delegations had also been reduced to minimise the risk of contracting the Coronavirus, with room headcounts indoors also cut down significantly, reported news agency Press Trust of India (PTI).
After arriving in the UK on Monday, India’s Foreign Minister, S Jaishankar held talks with the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. The discussion between the two was mostly on the global pandemic challenge, vaccine production capacity and the reliable supply chains.
The first formal gathering of the summit took place on Tuesday evening over a working dinner.
