London – British economist Jim O’Neill said on Wednesday that he was thankful that Coronavirus didn’t start somewhere in India because Indian governance system couldn’t handle the way China handled it, according to a CNBC report.
The former chief economist of Goldman Sachs O’Neill while participating in a panel discussion on CNBC lauded the model China has adopted to contain the coronavirus pandemic, and said western countries should emulate the model, but at the same time he took an apparent jibe at India.
“Thank God this didn’t start in somewhere like India, because there’s absolutely no way that the quality of Indian governance could move to react in the way that the Chinese have done, that’s the good side of the Chinese model, and I think you could probably say the same about Brazil too”, O’Neill said.
Meanwhile, his comments have drawn sharply criticized by the Indian officials.
Indian High Commission Minister Vishwesh Negi told CNBC Wednesday that O’Neill’s comments were “ill-informed and irresponsible.”
Indian government has announced that all visas except diplomatic and employment, are cancelled till 15 April 2020.
It has also taken strong steps to quarantine passengers for 14 days who have travel history to China, Italy, Iran, Republic of Korea, France, Spain and Germany after February 15.
