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Switzerland could revise quarantine list for travellers amid rising coronavirus infections

The Local
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Switzerland could revise quarantine list for travellers amid rising coronavirus infections
Quarantine may be abolished for arrivals from certain regions. Photo by AFP

As the coronavirus infection rate in the country is exceeding that in many other nations, Switzerland may remove some foreign regions from its ‘high risk’ list.

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The government first established its list at the beginning of July, when the number of Covid-19 cases was lower in Switzerland than in many other countries.

It has been updated several times since then, with some places added and others removed, depending on the health situation in each country.

Travellers arriving from these ‘risk’ areas have to go into a 10-day quarantine.

One of the government’s criteria for putting countries and individual regions on the list has been that the number of infections per 100,000 residents does not exceed 60 in those areas.

However, now that Switzerland itself has surpassed that figure by far — 693.3 cases per 100,000 inhabitants have been recorded over the past two weeks — the government wants to modify the rules.

READ MORE: UPDATE: Everything you need to know about Switzerland's quarantine rules 

 

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According to an article in the Blick on Tuesday, “suddenly, people find themselves locked in their homes when they return from a region where Covid-19 circulates less than in Switzerland”.

According to the newspaper, which gained access to official information about this matter, only countries or regions whose rate per 100,000 inhabitants exceeds by 60 that recorded in Switzerland would be placed on the red list.

At the moment, this means that this figure should be over 753 (693 + 60).

The latest figures from the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control, only Belgium (1390.9 cases), the Czech Republic (1379.8) and Luxembourg (760.4) are currently above the new limit.

The rest of Europe, including France, Italy, Germany and the UK, is in better shape.

Given the uncertain and fast evolution of Covid-19 in Europe and the world, the list would have to be revised as new data becomes available.

 

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