Restaurants and cafés will progressively close once more across French-speaking Switzerland starting in the canton of Jura on Tuesday 22 December 2020. On 18 December 2020, Switzerland’s Federal Council decided to close restaurants, bars, cultural venues and sports and leisure facilities from 22 December 2020. However, exceptions were allowed in cantons with R-numbers (reproduction rates) […]
Covid: retroactive quarantine for those arriving from the UK and South Africa
Following the discovery of a new, more contagious variant of the coronavirus in the UK and South Africa, the Federal Council today decided to take steps to prevent the further spread of this new variant. On Sunday, 20 December 2020, all flights to and from these countries to Switzerland were halted from midnight. Today, the […]
Covid: Switzerland suspends flights from the UK and South Africa
Late on 20 December 2020, the Swiss government decided to suspend flights to Switzerland from the UK and South Africa following news of the discovery a new variant of SARS-CoV-2 virus. The decision by the Swiss government follows similar decisions by Germany, France, Italy, Ireland, Belgium and the Netherland. Air, road, rail and maritime links […]
Covid: Switzerland approves first vaccine
On 19 December 2020, Swissmedic, Switzerland’s drug authorising agency, approved the first Covid-19 vaccination for the Swiss market. The agency approved the Covid-19 vaccine from Pfizer/BioNTech for adults from age 16. The first doses of vaccine will be delivered to Switzerland in the next few days. The first delivery will comprise 100,000 doses, followed by […]
Covid: Swiss government closes restaurants, bars and cultural venues
Faced with overworked hospital staff and rising cases, on 18 December 2020, Switzerland’s Federal Council decided to close restaurants, bars, cultural venues and sports and leisure facilities from 22 December 2020. The epidemiological situation is a cause of great concern, said the Federal Council. The number of infections is very high and continues to rise. […]
Covid: deaths and cases rise in Switzerland ahead of holiday period
This week the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) reported1 607 Covid-19 deaths, 11% more than last week (548). Switzerland’s Covid-19 death toll has reached 6,541 (6,003 confirmed positive). Tragically, a significant number of people in Switzerland will be grieving lost family members this Christmas. Switzerland’s hospitalised Covid-19 patient numbers, while below November’s peak, remain high. There […]
Covid: 22% of Geneva tests positive for antibodies
An update to an antibody study conducted by HUG and UNIGE suggests that 22% of Geneva’s population had been exposed to the SARS-CoV-2 virus by December 2020. The study which began earlier in the year, and involved 2,072 people, suggests the number of people infected has doubled since June 2020 when 11% of the study […]
Covid: Swiss becoming more skeptical of vaccines
Mistrust of vaccines against Covid-19 continues to rise in Switzerland, according to a recently published survey. A survey run in Switzerland at the end of October 2020, found that only 49% were prepared to take a Covid-19 vaccine, a percentage significantly lower than the 62% recorded in a similar survey in April 2020. Of the […]
Covid: declaring extraordinary situation pointless right now, says Swiss minister
Speaking to broadcaster RTS, Swiss health minister Alain Berset said the pandemic was under control and that it currently made no sense to declare an extraordinary situation, a provision in Swiss law on managing infectious diseases that allows the Federal Council to take charge of the situation over and above cantonal governments. Declaring an extraordinary […]
Covid: Swiss government annonces 7pm closing and closures on Sundays
At its meeting on 11 December, the Federal Council tightened its measures to counter the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The aim is to reduce the level of contact between people and to prevent people from gathering together and spreading the virus. The level of infection has remained stubbornly high over the last two weeks, […]
