The First Sign Of An Indian COVID-19 Variant Discovered In Switzerland

Usually, four popular items liken the magnanimously beautiful country of wide alps Switzerland to the culturally-vibrant land of India. These being- pure love for food, such as cheese and milk. The sprawling greens and cherubic mountainous landscapes. The love for cows- no pun intended. And then, the proclivity to shoot movies on a grand scale. The one thing, however, that doesn’t liken India to the mesmerising land-locked wonder that is Switzerland is Coronavirus. Right?

Well, wrong?

It appears that an Indian variant of the COVID 19 virus has just recently been discovered in a country the entire world loves. You can call it shocking. You can call it stunning. But truth be told, it’s anything but captivating news like a Shah Rukh Khan-starrer romantic caper set in the serene greens of Switzerland.

And what’s actually worse is that the Indian variant of COVID 19 found in Switzerland is the one that has led to an explosion of the new wave of Coronavirus cases back home in India. The above information was confirmed by the Public Health Authority this last Saturday, i.e., April 24, 2021.

But all of this leads to a vital question; just how did the news reach Switzerland with the developing shocking the famous land-locked country?

It appears that the virus variant was found in an airborne passenger who arrived in Switzerland after he had transmitted from a European airport.

More on this from NDTV reveals the following:

The person changed flights in a European country before flying on to Switzerland,” spokesman Daniel Dauwalder told AFP in an email, adding that the positive sample was collected in March in the northern canton of Solothurn.

The health care system in India is buckling under a new wave of infections blamed in part on the new “double mutant” variant, known as B.1.617.

On Saturday, the country reported a record daily number of cases and deaths from Covid-19, while the government is struggling to provide enough oxygen to overwhelmed hospitals. A total of almost 1,90,000 people have died of coronavirus in the country. 

Furthermore, both countries have been operating with due vigilance in a bid to tackle the menacing growth of the virus. Back home in India, the country’s national capital has, as of hours ago, imposed a week-long lockdown (and that too, for the second week running).

On the other hand, Switzerland, as on date, has lost no fewer than 10, 700 individuals due to the ghastly virus (approximately) with there being around 6,48,000 cases.