Nepal PM Deuba's India visit cancelled after postponement of Vibrant Gujarat Summit

Nepal Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba’s scheduled visit to India next week has been cancelled following the Gujarat government's decision to postpone the Vibrant Gujarat Summit due to a spike in the number of COVID cases in the state.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was to inaugurate the 10th edition of the Summit on January 10 in Gujarat.

The Prime Minister's four-day visit to India starting from January 9 has been cancelled as the Gujarat Summit has been postponed, said sources in the prime minister's private secretariat.

Besides attending the Summit, Deuba was also scheduled to meet Prime Minister Modi during the visit.

The Gujarat government on Thursday decided to postpone the Summit in the wake of a spike in COVID-19 cases, according to the Chief Minister's Office.

The three-day summit was to be held in a big way to attract investments, and delegations from many partner countries and CEOs of top companies were supposed to participate in the event.

On Wednesday, the daily COVID-19 cases in Gujarat crossed the 3,000-mark for the first time after May 26 last year with the addition of 3,350 infections, raising the state's tally to 8,40,643.

Also, Gujarat reported 50 new cases of the Omicron variant on Wednesday, taking the tally of such cases in the state to 204, as per the state health department.

The decision has been taken as the Omicron variant of COVID-19 is spreading rapidly in the world and the country, it said.

“The entire state administration has now decided to focus its energy on how to deal with the rising cases of coronavirus. At present, the situation due to the spike in COVID-19 cases in the state is relatively under control due to the state government's action of testing, tracing and treating those infected by the virus,” the CM's office said.

The earlier versions of the summit played a crucial role in the development of Gujarat as an industrialised state, it noted. 

IMAGE: AP