Gb: Hancock, right not to blacklist India first

(ANSA) - ROME, MAY 16 - British Health Minister Matt Hancock defended Downing Street's decision not to include India on the "black list" before April 23, when several cases of the Indian variant of the coronavirus had already been reported earlier this month.

    "The decision was due to the high positivity rate of people from India and it was only after blacklisting the continent that the variant became the subject of an investigation, then at the beginning of this month it became worrying," he explained. the minister to Skynew remarked that the UK has border control measures "among the strictest in the world".

    Asked whether Prime Minister Boris Johnson's planned trip to India in late April had an impact on the government's decision to impose restrictions on travel to and from the continent, Hancock replied that the measures are chosen "on the basis of evidence." (HANDLE).