Switzerland’s quarantine rules

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Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 23 total)

  • Swissdiver
    Participant

    Quarantine is a big topic nowadays. Here is the Swiss approach (published a couple of days ago).

    People having been in the past 14 days in any of these countries will be quarantined for 10 days upon entry to Switzerland:
    Argentina
    Armenia
    Azerbaijan
    Bahrain
    Belarus
    Bolivia
    Brazil
    Cabo Verde
    Chili
    Colombia
    Dominican Republic
    Honduras
    Iraq
    Israel
    Kosovo
    Kuwait
    Moldova
    North Macedonia
    Oman
    Panama
    Peru
    Qatar
    Russia
    Saudi Arabia
    Serbia
    South Africa
    Sweden
    Turks and Caicos Islands
    United States

    The list can change at any time, the criteria being any of these:

    * the state or area has more than 60 new infections per 100,000 people
    in the past 14 days;
    * the information available from the State or zone concerned does not
    allow a reliable estimate to be made of the situation, and there are
    indications that the risk of infection in the State or zone
    concerned is high;
    * on several occasions during the past 4 weeks, infected persons have
    entered Switzerland after having stayed in the State or zone at risk.

    Once in the country however, everything runs normally, excepted the social distances and the compulsory mask in public transports.


    Alsacienne
    Participant

    And any more countries from Africa?


    AJDC
    Participant

    America and Brazil should have a different category I would think.


    Swissdiver
    Participant

    [postquote quote=1003330][/postquote]

    On what basis?


    Brouthe
    Participant

    Yes It is good for everyone and what is rule for people coming from India.


    Swissdiver
    Participant

    Swiss government announced yesterday an extension of the list above. And controls will be reinforced (selected passengers’ lists will be communicated to the local police departments): passengers coming from these countries who either did not register upon arrival or fail to put themselves in self quarantine risk a fine up to CHF 10’000.

    The motivation of the Swiss government? It considers that one out of ten new case is imported.


    TominScotland
    Participant

    Thanks, Swissdiver, that is useful. As it happens, I have just been asked to go to Switzerland for a meeting they insist must be face-to-face.

    A question – how do Switzerland treat transit flights via, say, Qatar in terms of quarantine? Are they exempt? I see UAE is not on the list when all other Gulf countries – an advantage for Emirates?


    Swissdiver
    Participant

    Hi Tom,

    UAE is currently not on the list. The government however announced on Friday that new countries will be added “by Wednesday”. The information is available in English here.

    Passengers in transit are exempt.


    Swissdiver
    Participant

    The list has just been extended and now include UAE… Here is the current list:

    Argentina
    Armenia
    Azerbaijan
    Bahrain
    Belarus (no longer on the list from 23 July)
    Bolivia
    Bosnia and Herzegovina (from 23 July)
    Brazil
    Cape Verde
    Chile
    Colombia
    Costa Rica (from 23 July)
    Dominican Republic
    Ecuador (from 23 July)
    El Salvador (from 23 July)
    Eswatini (Swasiland) (from 23 July)
    Guatemala (from 23 July)
    Honduras
    Iraq
    Israel
    Kazakhstan (from 23 July)
    Kyrgyzstan (from 23 July)
    Kosovo
    Kuwait
    Luxembourg (from 23 July)
    Maldives (from 23 July)
    Mexico (from 23 July)
    Moldova
    Montenegro (from 23 July)
    North Macedonia
    Occupied Palestinian Territory (from 23 July)
    Oman
    Panama
    Peru
    Qatar
    Russia
    Saudi Arabia
    Sweden (no longer on the list from 23 July)
    Serbia
    South Africa
    Surinam (from 23 July)
    Turks and Caicos Islands
    United Arab Emirates (from 23 July)
    United States of America (including Puerto Rico and US Virgin Islands)


    ASK1945
    Participant

    Interesting that from tomorrow Luxembourg is added and Sweden removed from the list.


    LuganoPirate
    Participant

    The ridiculous thing is you can travel to or from Luxembourg by car or train and there are no checks on entering Switzerland.
    Alternatively you can fly into Milan, from destinations where they still have flights, and just hire a car or take the train straight into Switzerland. Again no controls!


    Swissdiver
    Participant

    Last week (August 8th), they removed Azerbaijan, Russia and the United Arab Emirates (the latter has therefore been on the list for just 2 weeks…).

    Were added:
    The Bahamas
    Equatorial Guinea
    Romania
    São Tomé and Príncipe
    Singapore
    Sint Maarten
    Spain (with the exception of the Balearic and Canary Islands)

    Controls were tightened, with notably air passengers’ names transmitted to the authorities.


    mike
    Participant

    Thanks for listing. Glad that Canada isn’t on the quarantine list.


    LuganoPirate
    Participant

    Switzerland has finally closed the loophole where you could come from a high risk country and transit through a low risk one, thus avoiding mandatory 10 day quarantine.
    It is I think still a bit vague, as you could buy separate tickets or come into Italy for example, then travel into Switzerland.

    https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/coronavirus–swiss-close-transit-travel-loophole/45998846


    ASK1945
    Participant

    [quote quote=1008994]It is I think still a bit vague ………… [/quote]

    Very vague. Interesting that Romania and Bulgaria appear to be exceptions (no quarantine needed) yet also being outside Schengen, the UK is not an exception but Ireland is. All three of these countries have higher current rates of infection per 100,000 than the UK, as well as several Schengen countries.

    I suppose, if you need to get to Switzerland urgently (to get into your private bank vault?), go to Belfast and get the train to Dublin then return the same way.

Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 23 total)
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