APRIL FOOLISH

Indians rap FM’s Covid strain name

- Gordon Blackstock

Scottish Indians hit out at Nicola Sturgeon yesterday after she renamed a strain of Covid-19 over fears it would lead to prejudice.

They said the First Minister’s decision to start referring to the Indian variant of the killer bug as “April-02” was “silly”.

The Indian Council of Scotland accused Sturgeon of “playing to the galleries”.

Neil Lal, president of the group which represents Scotland’s 33,000 Indians, said: “I’ve not heard from one Indian who has voiced any concern over a Covid strain being called the Indian variant. Not one.

“We’ve certainly not been asked our views on it. We’ve had the Brazilian, South African, Kent and other variants. There’s been no indication any people from these areas have suffered after a strain was named after the region they were from.

“It just looks like gesture politics and empty ones at that. India has bigger problems on its plate than a variant name.