British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's official trip to India next week has been cancelled, India's Ministry of External Affairs said here on Monday.

The MEA said the decision to cancel the proposed trip was taken mutually.

The decision comes against the backdrop of a strong Covid-19 second wave in India which has hit the South Asian country hard. For few days, more than 200,000 cases are being reported daily, prompting authorities to impose certain restrictions like weekend lockdowns.

However, the MEA said the two sides will hold a virtual meeting in the coming days, IBNS said. 

"The two sides will be holding a virtual meeting in the coming days to launch plans for a transformed India-U.K. relationship. Both leaders attach the highest importance to taking the India-U.K. partnership to its fullest potential and propose to remain in close touch in this regard and look forward to an in-person meeting later in the year," the MEA said in a statement said.

Last week Johnson announced a curtailed trip to India over the Covid situation. In January, he had canceled the trip when he was invited as the chief guest on India's Republic Day, January 26 as that time Britain was under the grip of the second wave of Covid-19.

Post-Brexit Britain has been eyeing the Indo-Pacific as a strategic focus area for trade and collaborations in other fields with India as the fulcrum. The proposed trip was billed as "significant" as many new agreements were to be signed between the two nations.

This was the first major trip by Johnson post-Brexit and after re-election.