From 20 August 2020, people entering Switzerland from Andorra, Belgium, Monaco and 50 other nations must quarantine for 10 days.
Switzerland’s Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) recently added 11 places to its existing list of regions where there is an increased risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Among them are Albania, Andorra, Gibraltar, Monaco, Belgium and Spain’s Balearic Islands – mainland Spain was added on 8 August 2020.
From 20 August 2020, anyone who has spent time in these countries over the 14 days prior to arriving in Switzerland must quarantine.
The 11 additional places are:
- Albania
- Andorra
- Aruba
- Belgium
- Belize
- Faroe Islands
- Gibraltar
- Guam
- Monaco
- Namibia
- The Balearic Islands
Five countries were removed from the list: Equatorial Guinea, São Tomé and Príncipe, Saudi Arabia, Serbia and Singapore.
There are currently 53 countries/regions on the list of states with an increased risk of infection – click here for the list of compulsory quarantine nations, which is regularly updated.
If you arrive in Switzerland and have spent time in a one of these places in the past 14 days you must go to your home or to other suitable accommodation immediately on arrival and stay there for 10 days and not go out. No exception is made for children or anyone with a negative Covid-19 test. The Swiss authorities say that a negative test does not rule out infection.
In addition, you must report your arrival to the relevant cantonal authority within 2 days and follow any instructions they give you. A government infoline operates from 6am to 11pm: +41 58 464 44 88.
Here are links for information on reporting arrival in Vaud, Geneva, Valais, Basel-City, Bern, Zurich and Zug. For other cantons click here.
The legal requirement to quarantine is set out in Switzerland’s epidemic act. Fines for non-compliance can be as high as CHF 10,000.
A fact sheet sets out what people must do during quarantine. You must stay at home or in suitable accommodation for 10 days, avoid all contact with other people and observe the rules on hygiene. Even if your PCR test for the virus is negative, you still have to spend 10 days in quarantine.
Employers must continue to pay you your salary during quarantine if they sent you to a country on the list and/or if your work can be done from home.
Those who do not continue to receive their salary from their employer can apply for compensation for Covid-related loss of earnings if they have to go into quarantine through no fault of their own. This is the case if, at the time of departure, their destination had not been announced as an area with an increased risk of infection. For further information on compensation click here: German, French, Italian.
More on this:
Switzerland’s epidemic act (in French) – Take a 5 minute French test now
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Greenhippo says
I’m confused by the quarantine rules.
First confusion: If you enter Switzerland from (for example) Spain, you have to quarantine yourself for ten days. That’s clear. But if you travel from Spain to France, quarantine yourself for ten days, and then enter Switzerland on day 11, you still have to quarantine yourself for ten days.
Second confusion: If you enter Switzerland from (for example) Spain, you have to quarantine yourself for ten days. So you do it, then on day 11 you go to visit your family in (for example) Annecy for two days. On day 13 you come back home to Switzerland and… because it is still less than 14 days since you were in Spain, the rules apply and you have to quarantine yourself for ten days AGAIN! Because the rule is applied every time you come in across the border.
Does anyone know what the official guidance would be in these two scenarios?
Annie says
I am from the US and of course we are banned from entering. That is understandable. I am from a state where covid is under control. We own an apartment in Vaud, I was scheduled to be there beginning early May. Since July/aug I have been asking for permission to enter, with the understanding I will have to quarantine for 10 days and all the rest. We are having huge issues with the apartment, PPE manager who was fired unbeknownst to us, accounting issues, we are out of money there and need to pay bills etc. it is truly a bad situation and I have explained it all to the authorities. For doing the right thing and ASKING for permission to enter, my passport number has been taken and passed on to border control. They say: no Madame, you do not have a reason to come in. So therefore I am considered a risk – BUT- large groups of people (or any group or maskless person etc etc are not. Not in a million years could I have thought the swiss could be this awful. I completely agree protection is absolutely necessary, But where is the logic, where is the evidence that their rationale is valid here?