BORIS Johnson has cancelled his scheduled visit to India next week "in light of the current coronavirus situation”.
The Prime Minister's already-curtailed trip to Dehli was scrapped altogether, with plans for him to instead speak to his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi later in the month.
The UK Government later announced that India has been added to England's "red list" of countries from which most travel is banned.
Downing Street issued a joint statement from the British and Indian governments.
"In the light of the current coronavirus situation, Prime Minister Boris Johnson will not be able to travel to India next week," the statement said.
"Instead, Prime Ministers Modi and Johnson will speak later this month to agree and launch their ambitious plans for the future partnership between the UK and India.
"They will remain in regular contact beyond this, and look forward to meeting in person later this year."
It came as New Delhi entered a week-long lockdown to tackle a surge in cases to prevent a collapse of the capital's health system.
Johnson's visit – to foster close ties as part of Britain's foreign policy "tilt" towards the Indo-Pacific – was first scheduled for January, but was delayed due to the UK's winter wave of infections.
A four-day trip was then scheduled to begin on Monday before being cut back last week to just one day in Delhi.
India has been reporting more than 200,000 cases daily since 15 April – well above the peak last year, when it was averaging around 93,000 cases a day.
Deaths have also been rising, with 1620 Covid-linked fatalities confirmed on Sunday.
Johnson had been under increasing pressure from politicial opponents and scientists to scrap the plan.
Professor Christina Pagel, from University College London and a member of Independent Sage, told the Independent: “He shouldn’t be going – it’s just crazy. How insane would it be if we end up pushing our vaccination programme back by weeks or months because Boris Johnson went on a foreign trip?”
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