The daily death toll from Coronavirus infections in India set a new world record for the third day in a row, while a number of countries suspended flights with India, amid a state of alert in many countries of the world, fearing that the mutated Indian version would leak to it.
And the Indian Ministry of Health announced the registration of more than 346,000 new cases of the virus during the past 24 hours.
India is facing a second, massive wave of the pandemic, during which it records one death every 4 minutes in Delhi, while the capital's underfunded health system is collapsing.
And many hospitals in the densely populated country have appealed for supplies of oxygen, which heralds a health catastrophe in the country.
The government deployed military aircraft and trains to bring oxygen from distant parts to Delhi.
And television footage showed an oxygen truck arriving at the Batra Hospital in the capital after a distress call, in which it said it had only enough oxygen to supply 260 patients for 90 minutes.
On Thursday, India surpassed the record number recorded by the United States for injuries within one day, which amounted to 297,430 injuries.
This made it the global epicenter of the disease, which began to recede in many other countries.
The Indian government itself announced in February that it had tackled the disease when new cases fell to their lowest levels ever.
Health experts said that India relaxed in applying preventive measures in the winter, when the number of new cases reached about 10,000 per day, and the situation appeared under control, so restrictions were lifted.
This allowed the return of large gatherings.
The first infection with the Indian version was recorded in Switzerland
On Saturday, the Swiss health authorities announced the registration of the first infection in the country with the Indian version of Covid-19, which is due to the large increase in the number of injuries in India.
"The first case of the Indian mutated version of Covid-19 was discovered in Switzerland," the Federal Office of Public Health in Switzerland said in a tweet, adding that it was discovered by a person who was passing through an airport in the country without giving details of the case.
The news comes after the Belgian authorities announced, on Thursday, that a group of 20 Indian nursing students who had come from Paris had confirmed that they had the Indian version.
The Indian health system is suffering under the weight of a new wave of infections, which was partly attributed to a "double mutation" that resulted in a new mutated version of the virus.
Countries around the world are in a state of alert due to the mutated version, as many of them have suspended flights from India.
Meanwhile, the Swiss are discussing adding India to the "red list" of high-risk countries, health authorities said Saturday.
Despite the criticism, Germany is toughening measures
On Saturday, Germany entered a new phase of closure, including a nationwide curfew, after the adoption of a controversial law, which Chancellor Angela Merkel considered "urgent" to contain the third wave of the Corona virus.
At a time when a large number of European countries, such as Italy, Switzerland, Belgium and France, decided to ease restrictions, the first European economic power is going against the tide, activating what it calls "emergency brakes" stipulated in the reform of the law on protection from infectious diseases.
The chancellor said in her weekly statement that this mechanism "is a new method in our battle against the epidemic. I am convinced of it, we need it urgently."
"If we are able to reduce the number of injuries clearly and quickly, we will be able to gradually reduce the measures in the near future," she added.
"In order not to jeopardize our vaccination campaign, travel to India must be severely restricted," Health Minister Jens Young told the Funky media group.
He added that as of Monday, Germans coming from India will not be allowed to enter the country except with test results that prove that they are not infected with the Coronavirus, and then enter quarantine, while foreign travelers from India will not be allowed to enter.
Iran bans entry to travelers from India
Iran said today, Saturday, that it will prevent entry to travelers from India;
Due to a strain of Covid-19 to avoid spreading to the country already affected by the pandemic.
However, officials did not say if any cases of this strain, which was first discovered in India in late March, have surfaced in Iran.
"The Indian Corona virus is a new threat that we face," President Hassan Rouhani said in remarks broadcast on state television.
"The Indian virus is more dangerous than the British and Brazilian strains," he added.
And the Iranian Civil Aviation Authority announced, through local media, that all flights to and from India and Pakistan would stop, starting at midnight tomorrow, Sunday.
Isolation and lockdown for 3 days in parts of Western Australia
More than two million people in the state of Western Australia began today, Saturday, the first comprehensive isolation measures for a period of 3 days after the outbreak of the Corona virus in a quarantine hotel, and the transmission of infection from it.
This came after a traveler returning from Perth was tested positive for the Corona virus after leaving a quarantine hotel there, after a test indicating that he was free of the disease.
Authorities suspect that he was injured while at the hotel.
The virus has leaked several times in recent months from quarantined hotels in Western Australia and other states.
This prompted the authorities to impose short isolation and lockdown measures or to tighten social distancing rules.
This is the third measure of lockdown in Western Australia.
And the authorities asked residents of the capital (Perth) and the neighboring Bell region to stay in their homes, and that the exception be for basic work or for medical or purchasing purposes.