A first case of the Covid-19 variant contributing to the exploding outbreak in India has been detected in Switzerland, the public health authority said. "The first case of the Indian variant of Covid-19 has been discovered in Switzerland," Switzerland's Federal Office of Public Health said in a tweet.
The virus variant was found in "a passenger who was transiting through an airport," it said, without providing more details about the case.
The news comes after Belgian authorities said a group of 20 Indian nursing students who arrived from Paris had tested positive for the variant in the country.
India's healthcare system is meanwhile buckling under a new wave of infections blamed in part on the new "double mutant" variant, known as B.1.617.