On 11 September 2020, Switzerland’s federal government announced that people entering Switzerland after spending time in regions next to the country’s national borders will be exempted from mandatory quarantine requirements should those regions end up with high rates of infection. Cross-border worker are already exempted from quarantine requirements. The announcement marks a significant shift away […]
Coronavirus: weekly cases up 24% in Switzerland
In the week to 11 September 2020, the reported number of new SARS-CoV-2 infections recorded in Switzerland was 2,707, 24% higher than the 2,186 cases recorded the week before. The total number of recorded cases stood at 46,239 by 11 September 2020. The 7-day rolling average number of daily new cases this week was 387, up from […]
Coronavirus: France remains off Swiss risk list despite a steep rise in cases
When the number of cases over the last 14 days in a country reaches 60 per 100,000, Switzerland’s health authorities undertake a review of the situation to decide whether the country should be added to the nation’s risk list, something that triggers a mandatory quarantine requirement. Over the 14 days to 9 September 2020, France […]
Fribourg hospital under pressure after Covid-19 outbreak
According to RTS, a branch of the HFR hospital in the Swiss canton of Fribourg has reached full capacity after a rise in Covid-19 patients following an outbreak in a local nursing home. The rise in hospital admissions follows an outbreak of Covid-19 in a nursing home in the region. Nine new patients have been […]
Swiss Rail loses a third of passengers due to coronavirus
Recently published figures show rail passenger numbers dropped by more than a third during the first half of 2020. During this period an average of 810,000 passengers a day traveled on the network, a number more than a third less than during the first half of 2019 when there was 1.29 million. The number of […]
Switzerland adds 10 more nations to its compulsory quarantine list
Update: on 11 September 2020, Switzerland added further to its list of quarantine regions and included parts of France and Vienna. On 7 September 2020, Switzerland added to its list of quarantine countries. People entering Switzerland from 55 nations must now quarantine for 10 days. On 7 September 2020, 10 nations were added to the […]
Coronavirus: Switzerland considers adding only parts of France to its quarantine list
With daily infection rates in France rising to levels not seen since its previous peak in April 2020, the Swiss government is considering modifying its quarantine risk list system to include certain French regions rather than the whole country. The idea is being discussed as a potential way to avoid paralysing parts of Switzerland that […]
Coronavirus: weekly cases rise further in Switzerland passing 400 in a single day
In the week to 4 September 2020, the reported number of new SARS-CoV-2 infections recorded in Switzerland was 2,186, 9% higher than the 2,014 cases recorded the week before. The total number of recorded cases and deaths stood at 43,532 and 2,013 by 4 September 2020. 405 daily new cases were reported on 4 September 2020. The last time […]
Coronavirus: could masks explain Switzerland’s sharply declining death rate?
In Switzerland, over the three months following 31 May 2020, there have been 11,306 recorded cases of Covid-19 and 91 deaths, a case fatality rate (CFR) of 0.8%. However, before this date there were 30,862 cases and 1,920 deaths, a CFR of 6.2%. Why has Switzerland’s CFR fallen so steeply? A number of factors could […]
Coronavirus: country of departure now counts, not stopover country
The Swiss government has closed a Covid-19 travel loophole. From 31 August 2020, it will no longer be possible to skirt Switzerland’s entry restrictions by arriving in Switzerland from a high-risk country by transiting through a country that is not on the list. Until this date, it has been possible to circumvent Switzerland’s entry restrictions […]
