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Covid-19 tests For Members

EXPLAINED: How to get Switzerland’s Covid certificate with a negative test

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EXPLAINED: How to get Switzerland’s Covid certificate with a negative test
Asimina, a second grade high school student checks her negative Covid-19 test result after undergoing self testing at her home in Athens, on the eve of high schools opening on April 11, 2021. - Students and teachers are required to use kits for self-administered corovavirus test twice a week as Greece reopens high schools for students in the final three grades. (Photo by Louisa GOULIAMAKI / AFP)

Switzerland will tighten Covid certificate rules from Monday, September 13th. Here’s how to get the certificate with a negative test.

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From Monday, September 13th, anyone visiting bars, restaurants, gyms or many other cultural venues, will need to show the certificate. 

The Covid-19 certificate – otherwise known as the Covid-19 pass or the green pass – is available in paper and digital form.

The pass “provides documentary evidence that you have had a COVID-19 vaccination, have had and recovered from the disease or have tested negative”.

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How to get the Covid certificate with a negative test

For people who test negative, you will be given a certificate. 

Both PCR and antigen tests apply here, although the validity differs. 

A negative PCR test is valid for 72 hours, while a negative antigen test is valid for 48 hours

Self tests are not valid for the certificate.  

Switzerland ends free Covid testing: Everything you need to know

While you will get a paper print out with a negative test in most cases, you can also get it displayed on the Covid Certificate App by scanning in your QR code.

The app – which is different to the Swiss Covid tracing app – is available here for Google/Android phones and here for Apple phones.

You can scan the QR code into the app, then it will be recorded there and you can use it as you would the paper slip.

What are the rules for testing? 

Currently, testing is free for Swiss residents as well as for most visitors to Switzerland. 

More information about getting a test as a visitor is available in the following link. 

READ MORE: How tourists and visitors in Switzerland can get a free Covid test

From October however, the government will no longer cover the costs of Covid tests - meaning that they will cost around CHF50 per test. 

UPDATED: Unvaccinated must pay for Covid tests in Switzerland from October

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