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 Saturday.

The virus variant was found in "a passenger who was transiting through an airport," Switzerland's Federal Office of Public Health said in a tweet said, without providing more details about the case.

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.

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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. Countries have been on high alert for the variant, with several suspending flights from India.

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The Swiss are meanwhile discussing whether to add India to the country's "red list" of high risk countries, the health authority said Saturday. People arriving from countries placed on Switzerland's red list are required to quarantine for 10 days.

Switzerland puts countries and regions on the list once COVID-19 infection rates remain significantly higher than Switzerland's for a period of 14 days.

Record case rise in India

The Swiss case comes as India's daily coronavirus death toll set a new record on Saturday.

Queues of COVID-19 patients and their fearful relatives were growing outside hospitals in major cities across India, the world's new pandemic hotspot, which has now reported nearly one million new cases in three days.

Another 2,624 deaths were reported in 24 hours, taking the official toll to nearly 190,000 since the pandemic started. More than 340,000 new cases were also reported, taking India's total to 16.5 million, with only the U.S. having suffered more cases.