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Switzerland: Parts of Germany, Italy and Austria added to coronavirus quarantine list

Switzerland has expanded its mandatory quarantine list, adding parts of Germany, Italy and Austria - as well as seven other countries. Germany’s two largest cities have been placed on the list.

Published: 9 October 2020 18:11 CEST
Updated: 10 October 2020 11:24 CEST
Switzerland: Parts of Germany, Italy and Austria added to coronavirus quarantine list
Parts of Germany, Austria and Italy have been added to the list. Image: GIAN EHRENZELLER / POOL / AFP

Switzerland on Friday expanded its list of ‘high risk’ countries and regions from which arrivals will be required to quarantine. 

Regions of Germany, Austria and Italy have been added to the list.

In addition, the countries of Georgia, Iran, Jordan, Canada, Russia, Slovakia and Tunisia have been added to the list. 

Bolivia, the Dominican Republic, Namibia, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago have been removed. 

Quarantine: How does Switzerland decide a country is 'high risk'? 

The ten-day quarantine restrictions, aimed at stemming the spread of the novel coronavirus, come into force from Monday, October 12th. 

 

 

The German city states of Berlin and Hamburg have been placed on the list. 

The Italian region of Campania – which includes the city of Naples – has been added to the list, along with Sardinia and Veneto.

Liguria is the only other region of Italy on the list, having previously been added on September 28th. 

UPDATE: Everything you need to know about Switzerland's quarantine rules 

Arrivals from the Austrian states of Burgenland and Salzburg will also be required to quarantine. Vienna has been on the list since September 11th, while Upper Austria and Lower Austria were added on September 28th. 

Switzerland is continuing to exempt immediate border regions in neighbouring countries from the quarantine requirements.

When placed on the list on September 14th, France and Austria were broken up into regions rather than considered as a whole country due to the importance of the border regions to the Swiss economy. 

In making the announcement, Swiss health minister Alain Berset effectively implied that border regions would remain exempt from quarantine requirements due to the economic and social connections which span both sides of the border.

The government in Bern said earlier this month it was seeking a “pragmatic” approach by exempting areas impacted by heavy cross-border trade, and which are home to many who cross over daily to work in Switzerland.

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HEALTH

Patients in Vienna face long waits for specialist health appointments

Waiting times to get appointments with health specialists in Vienna have increased significantly, a new study has revealed.

Published: 17 May 2024 09:56 CEST
Patients in Vienna face long waits for specialist health appointments

Accessing essential healthcare within a reasonable timeframe is becoming increasingly difficult for Viennese residents.

The Vienna Medical Association presented their new study this week which shows that waiting times for appointments with health specialists have increased significantly in recent years.

The study, which involved contacting over 850 doctors’ practices via so-called “mystery calls,” revealed that child and adolescent psychiatry currently had the longest waiting times in the city.

Patients can expect to wait an average of 90 days for an appointment.

Other specialisations where patients have to wait long to receive help include radiology (57 days), neurology (45 days), ophthalmology (44 days), pulmonology (36 days), internal medicine (33 days), and dermatology (28 days).

The waiting time for seeing a gynaecologist has increased fourfold since 2012, with patients now waiting an average of 32 days.

READ MORE: Why are there fewer public sector doctors in Austria?

No new patients accepted

In certain specialist areas, there is no capacity to accommodate new patients. The situation where no new patients are accepted occurs particularly often in paediatric practices, where more than half of the public healthcare practices have put a freeze on admissions.

In child and adolescent psychiatry, 40 percent do not accept new patients, and among gynaecologists, it is almost a third (30 percent). Family doctors also struggle with welcoming new patients, and many of their practices have already reached full capacity.

The Medical Association calls for immediate action, urging the health insurance sector to become more attractive and receive better funding. This could involve measures to incentivise doctors to work within the public system, potentially reducing wait times and improving patient access to care.

During the study presentation, Johannes Steinhart, president of the association, described the increased waiting times as the result of neglect within the established health insurance sector. He said he believes that the public health system is massively endangered.

Naghme Kamaleyan-Schmied, chairwoman of the Curia of the resident doctors in the association, pointed out that while the population of the federal capital has grown by 16 percent since 2012, the number of public doctors has fallen by 12 percent in the same period.

The association now wants to make the public healthcare system more attractive to doctors, which could cut down waiting times and make it easier for patients to receive care. The association’s demands for this to happen include increasing flexibility in contract options, integrating health and social professions in individual practices, reducing bureaucracy, and improving fees.

ÖGK, Österreichische Gesundheitskasse, Austria’s largest public healthcare fund, is currently creating 100 additional public health positions, with almost two-thirds of the positions already having applicants, as well as planning for another 100 positions. They also aim to create a central telemedicine service and a platform for making appointments by phone and online, which is meant to reduce waiting times and improve access to care.

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