{"id":120033,"date":"2021-04-25T12:00:54","date_gmt":"2021-04-25T04:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=120033"},"modified":"2021-04-25T12:00:57","modified_gmt":"2021-04-25T04:00:57","slug":"covid-19-indian-variant-found-in-switzerland-health-authority","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=120033","title":{"rendered":"Covid-19: Indian variant found in Switzerland &#8211; Health authority"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img src=\"https:\/\/images.hindustantimes.com\/img\/2021\/04\/24\/550x309\/2021-03-19T144648Z_1_LYNXMPEH2I0XD_RTROPTP_3_HEALTH-CORONAVIRUS-SWISS_1616168333857_1619283195635.JPG\" alt=\"The news comes after Belgian authorities on Thursday said a group of 20 Indian nursing students who arrived from Paris had tested positive for the variant in the country.(Reuters\/File Photo)\"\/><figcaption>The news comes after Belgian authorities on Thursday said a group of 20 Indian nursing students who arrived from Paris had tested positive for the variant in the country<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>GENEVA, April 25 (NNN-AGENCIES) &#8212;\u00a0A first case of the coronavirus variant contributing to the\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.channelnewsasia.com\/news\/india-covid-19-death-toll-record-oxygen-supplies-14685668\" target=\"_blank\">exploding COVID-19 outbreak in India<\/a>\u00a0has been detected in Switzerland, the public health authority said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;The first case of the Indian variant of COVID-19 has been discovered in Switzerland,&#8221; Switzerland&#8217;s Federal Office of Public Health (BAG) said in a tweet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The virus variant was found in &#8220;a passenger who was transiting through an airport&#8221;, it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Spokesman Daniel Dauwalder said in an email that the positive sample was collected in March in the northern canton of Solothurn, and that the transit passenger &#8220;had arrived from a European country&#8221;.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The news comes after Belgian authorities on Thursday said that a group of 20 Indian nursing students who arrived from Paris had tested positive for the variant in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>India&#8217;s healthcare system is meanwhile buckling under a new wave of infections blamed in part on the new &#8220;double mutant&#8221; variant, known as B1617.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On Saturday, India reported a record daily number of cases and deaths from COVID-19, while the government is struggling to provide enough oxygen to overwhelmed hospitals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A total of almost 190,000 people have died of COVID-19&nbsp;in India according to official figures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Countries have been on high alert for the variant, with several suspending flights from India.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The BAG said it was discussing whether to add India to its &#8220;red list&#8221; of high-risk countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>People arriving from countries placed on Switzerland&#8217;s red list are required to quarantine for 10 days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But Dauwalder pointed out that India already figured on a separate list held by the State Secretariat for Migration, which meant that\u00a0for now, in most cases, only Swiss citizens and residents were permitted to enter Switzerland after a stay in India. &#8212; NNN-AGENCIES<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>GENEVA, April 25 (NNN-AGENCIES) &#8212;\u00a0A first case of the coronavirus variant contributing to the\u00a0exploding COVID-19 outbreak in India\u00a0has been detected in Switzerland, the public health authority said. &#8220;The first case of the Indian variant of COVID-19 has been discovered in Switzerland,&#8221; Switzerland&#8217;s Federal Office of Public Health (BAG) said in a tweet. The virus variant [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[215,209],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120033"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=120033"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120033\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=120033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=120033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=120033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}