No foreign dignitary or leader will be attending this year’s Republic Day celebration as the chief guest, due to the global situation arising out of the coronavirus pandemic, announced the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Thursday.

It will be for the first time in over five decades that India will not be having a chief guest at the Republic Day parade.

“Due to the global Covid-19 situation, it has been decided that this year there will not be a foreign head of state or head of government as the chief guest for our Republic Day event,” MEA Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava announced at a media briefing.

The decision was taken after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s last-minute decision to cancel his visit due to the spread of a mutant strain of the coronavirus in the UK.

India had invited Johnson as the Republic Day chief guest and he accepted India’s invitation, calling it “a great honour”.

However, earlier this month, he chose to cancel his India visit due to the pandemic that has escalated in the UK following the mutant variant.