Fear grows in Europe of the dreaded Indian variant of the coronavirus

Switzerland and the Czech Republic today announced that they have detected cases with this strain of the coronavirus, amid new concerns about the circulation of this variant, considered to be more contagious, and which have led Germany to join the list of those who ban flights with this Asian country.

Meanwhile, Italy is preparing to reopen restaurants, bars and shops tomorrow after months of closures with strong controls to not allow this quarantine release to end in droves on the streets and in new sources. major contagion.

However, after a long lockdown, from Milan to Rome and Naples, the day was experienced with an early opening with thousands enjoying the good weather in the squares, streets and parks, the ANSA news agency reported. .

On the other hand, in other parts of the continent, concern is growing, now about the new strain of India.

“The first case of the ‘Indian’ strain of Covid-19 was detected in Switzerland, it is a passenger who arrived through a transit airport,” the Federal Office of Public Health reported on its Twitter account.

The text adds that consultations focused on the possibility of including India in a list of countries dangerous in terms of epidemiological situation are underway, reported the Sputnik news agency.

In turn, the Minister of Health of the Czech Republic, Petr Arenberger, said that the same strain, first detected in the Indian state of West Bengal and considered to be a double mutation of the virus, has already entered the country.

“The ‘Indian’ strain of Covid-19 has been confirmed in the town of Hradec Kralove, where it was likely brought by an Indian student,” he reported.

The new tension is a threat in several countries, so countries like Canada, France and the United Arab Emirates have tightened their controls on Indian travelers or even suspended their air links with that country.

To this list was added Germany, whose Minister of Health, Jen Spahn, announced today that it will reduce the traffic of travelers from this Asian nation, which from tomorrow will appear on the list of high risk countries.

“The new virus mutation discovered in India worries us a lot. In order not to jeopardize our vaccination campaign, we must clearly reduce the traffic of travelers with India”, explained the official in an interview with the press group. Funke.

From Sunday, only citizens of German nationality will be able to travel from India to Germany, having presented a negative test carried out shortly before the flight “and they will have to be quarantined for 14 days immediately after arrival “said Spahn.

India today broke a record for daily coronavirus cases, with more than 346,000, as the government struggles to provide oxygen to hospitals overflowing with hundreds of thousands of patients.

In addition to the local mutation, identified as B.1.618, the strains first detected in the UK, South Africa and Brazil have already been registered in the country.

In France, for their part, the authorities today announced more than 32,000 new infections and 220 deaths from coronavirus in the past 24 hours, figures which show a certain stabilization compared to the previous days.

In the midst of this “epidemiological plateau”, as the experts call it, France plans to begin next Monday its reopening of early childhood and primary levels according to “very strict protocols” and by a massive campaign of tests in the same centers. .

In the United Kingdom, a similar gradual reopening is approaching, taking advantage of a sharp drop in epidemiological figures: today there are just over 2,000 new cases and 32 deaths.

Although the government has already announced a roadmap to begin the reopening, today thousands of people demonstrated in central London to protest the containment and the possible application of a vaccination passport that would facilitate movement and access to vaccines.