Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) yesterday said it was "disappointed" that a prominent Indian political figure like Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had failed to ascertain facts before making claims about a "new strain" of Sars-CoV-2 virus found in Singapore.
The ministry said it "regrets the unfounded assertions" made on Facebook and Twitter by Mr Kejriwal, who claimed on Tuesday that a "Singapore variant" of the virus that causes Covid-19 was particularly harmful to children and could cause a third wave of infections in India.
"MFA met the High Commissioner of India P. Kumaran this morning to express these concerns," said a spokesman.
Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan quoted Mr Kejriwal's original post in a tweet and said: "Politicians should stick to facts! There is no 'Singapore variant'."
He included a link to a May 11 article in established science journal Nature that explained how virus variants like B1617 have been dominant in India before spreading to about 40 nations, including Singapore.
Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar tagged Dr Balakrishnan in a tweet clarifying that Mr Kejriwal "does not speak for India".
"Singapore and India have been solid partners in the fight against Covid-19," wrote Dr Jaishankar. "Appreciate Singapore's role as a logistics hub and oxygen supplier. Their gesture of deploying military aircraft to help us speaks of our exceptional relationship.
"However, irresponsible comments from those who should know better can damage longstanding partnerships."
Dr Balakrishnan thanked his counterpart, saying: "Let's focus on resolving the situation in our respective countries and helping one another. Nobody is safe until everyone is safe."
Singapore's Health Ministry had issued a rebuttal to the claims on Tuesday, saying there is "no truth whatsoever" to them, and that the B16172 variant prevalent in many of the Covid-19 cases in recent weeks originated in India.
Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman Arindam Bagchi also said that Mr Kumaran had clarified to MFA that Mr Kejriwal "had no competence to pronounce on Covid variants or civil aviation policy".
Later in the day, Singapore's High Commissioner to India Simon Wong told reporters he was heartened by the clarifications and assurances from the Indian authorities and both sides should "put this unfortunate chapter behind us".
They should also press on with the task ahead, working together to combat the virus, he added.
Mr Wong also said the Singapore Government reserved the right to invoke its fake news law on some of the comments and assertions that had been made on the topic.
He added that the incident would not affect the medical equipment and assistance being sent from Singapore to India, including oxygen concentrators and cylinders, ventilators and cryogenic tanks.
Delhi was also a beneficiary, he said, noting military flights from both sides were transporting these items and a second Indian navy ship carrying relief supplies was on its way back from Singapore.
"We will trudge on and we will continue. This pandemic knows no boundary or political colours; we have to fight it hand in hand."
