The first case of the Indian variant of the 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has been detected in Switzerland, the country’s public health authorities said today.
“The first case of the Indian variant of the virus has been detected in Switzerland,” the Federal Office of Public Health said in a tweet. The tweet also said that the variant was found in “a passenger in transit at the airport.
Spokesman Daniel Dauwalder told AFP in an email that a positive sample was collected in the northern canton of Solothurn in March and that the transit passenger was “from a European country.
Belgian authorities said on 22 March that 20 Indian nursing students from Paris, France, had tested positive for the Indian variant of the virus in Belgium.
The Indian care system is fighting a new wave of the variant virus B.1.617 outbreak. A record number of new diagnoses and deaths have been reported in India today, with hospitals overcrowded and authorities struggling to provide enough oxygen. According to official figures, nearly 190,000 people have died of the disease in India so far.
The Swiss Public Health Agency said it is discussing whether to put India on the red list of high-alert countries. People from red list countries must be quarantined for 10 days.
Thousands of people in the eastern Swiss town of Rapperswil-Jona broke the law today to protest against epidemic prevention measures. Almost no one was wearing a mask, waving flags and shouting “freedom” as they marched.
Police said about 4,000 people participated in the demonstration, which was largely peaceful, and they briefly detained two people and expelled 45 from the town for 24 hours.
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