Swiss rules of quarantine remain strict for four nations only. Rest of the countries’ visitors are welcomed to the Alpine nation since Wednesday, The Local Switzerland has learned. In addition, the duration of the quarantine will however remain at ten days.
Switzerland amended its quarantine rules yesterday. In the so-called ‘red list’ now are only four countries that pose ‘high risk’ and are requiring a quarantine.
The new measures to rein in skyrocketing coronavirus cases in Switzerland, and acknowledged that it no longer made sense for most travellers to the EU country to quarantine.
But while introducing stricter rules for mask-wearing and crowd sizes, the government also said it would lift the requirement for people arriving from a long line of countries to quarantine for 10 days upon arrival in Switzerland or risk a $10,000-fine.
As an illustration, Switzerland has until now put countries and territories on its “red list” for quarantining once COVID-19 infection rates there passed more than 60 per 100,000 people for a period of 14 days.
In the Alpine nation, its own infection rate gallops, the country has over 760 cases for 100,000 people for the past two weeks.
A point often overlooked, that approach makes Switzerland one of the hardest-hit in Europe. In other words, it is making the nation pointless to impose quarantines on people arriving from less-impacted regions.
The updated ‘red list’ of Switzerland
The new quarantine rules say that only Belgium, the Czech Republic, Andorra and Armenia are considered high risk. In addition, three regions of France, including Paris, Hauts-de-France, ÎIe de France, and French Polynesia, are also in the alarming list.
The announcement is a significant change from the country’s previous quarantine rules, where dozens of countries and regions of countries were considered to be high risk.
The Swiss federal government said the “radical” change was due to rising infection rates all across the world. As of Thursday, Switzerland’s COVID-19 infection rate per 100,000 residents is 693.
