Bird flu has arrived in Switzerland with positive test results in the Geneva region and Stein am Rhein on Lake Constance, according to an official statement Sunday. A government spokesman did not give more details.

Authorities had been bracing themselves for a transmission of the virus over the border into the Swiss territory since the deadly H5N1 strain of the virus had been detected in dead birds across the border in France and Germany.

Protection zones have already been set up in the cantons of Thurgovia and Schaffhausen directly on the border with Germany. Cases of bird flu had earlier been discovered on the German side in the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg. Switzerland is a land locked country and is very strategically placed, the fear now is going to be how soon rest of Europe gets enveloped in this potentially hazardous epidemic.