Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Raghav Chadha on Thursday gave a Suspension of Notice under Rule 267 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Rajya Sabha to hold a discussion on rising COVID-19 cases in China and its impact on India.

In his written notice, Raghav Chadha said, “I hereby give notice under Rule 267 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Council of States (Rajya Sabha) of my intention to move the following motion for suspension of Question Hour listed for 22nd December 2022: “That in pursuance of Rule 267 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Rajya Sabha, this House do suspend Rule 38 of the said Rule in its application to the discussion on RISING CORONA CASES IN CHINA AND IMPACT ON INDIA.” China is witnessing an alarming surge in fatal COVID infections from a sub-variant of Omicron.

Epidemiologists predict at least three waves of the virus to hit the country during the following months and cause over a million fatalities. The virus has already wreaked havoc in China pushing its healthcare system into chaos reports suggest that there are no beds in hospitals, medicines are running out of stock and mortuaries have run out of space. Videos of the devastation caused by the pandemic are flooding social media and alarming people.

“The Indian government ignored and downplayed the early signs of the pandemic in early and late 2020 and the devastating second wave. The delay in managing international air connectivity and taking effective early measures allowed the virus to spread unchecked across the country. Furthermore, complacency in tracking new mutants and ignorance of warning signs plunged our country into a second wave, pushing our healthcare system to the brink of total collapse and leaving more than lakhs of Indians dead,” he said further.

He also mentioned, “There are four cases of this new variant, which is affecting China have already been detected in India. The world is on high alert.”

“As a nation, we can neither afford complacency nor manage a lethal pathogen with just reassuring headlines,” he underlined.

He also stated that we need stronger measures than just advisories to the states and mentioned that it is crucial to immediately ban flights connecting China and India.

“Given the seriousness of the situation, the Ministry of Health, Government of India has issued an advisory to the States. However, we need stronger measures. The need of the hour is to immediately ban any connecting flights from China to India via Asian countries and consider a mandatory institutional quarantine for international passengers from affected countries.”

He emphasized that a discussion on this “impending threat” and the government’s preparedness to tackle it is highly needed as managing the pandemic is a collective responsibility of Union and State Governments.

“Managing a pandemic is the collective responsibility of the union and all state governments. Therefore, a discussion in the Parliament on the impending threat from the new variant and the Government’s preparedness to tackle the same is highly needed,” he said.