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Switzerland imposes retroactive quarantine on arrivals from UK

Switzerland has announced that anyone who arrived in the country from the UK and South Africa in recent days must now go into quarantine.

Published: 21 December 2020 12:30 CET
Switzerland imposes retroactive quarantine on arrivals from UK
AFP

The move was taken to prevent the spread of a new strain of coronavirus that has been identified in the south of England is is believed to be much more contagious than the other strains of Covid-19.

South Africa is also included in the ban, as the new virus variant is spreading through that country as well.

The Federal Council has introduced a general entry ban from today for all foreign nationals seeking to enter Switzerland from the UK and South Africa. This is intended in particular to stop travel from these countries for tourism purposes.

“All persons who have entered Switzerland from these two countries since 14 December must go into quarantine for 10 days”, the Federal Council said in a statement.

Switzerland's Federal Office of Civil Aviation (FOCA) suspended air links between the UK and Switzerland from midnight Sunday. 

READ MORE: TRAVEL: Switzerland suspends flights with UK over new Covid strain

However, a temporary derogation from the flight ban is being considered for persons resident in the UK or South Africa currently staying in Switzerland so that they may return home, authorities said.

“That is also the case for persons resident in Switzerland currently staying in those two countries. However, it is imperative that such return journeys do not lead to infections”.

South Africa is also included in the ban, as the new virus variant is spreading through that country as well.

“The new strain is significantly more contagious than the known kind,” FOCA said in a press release on Sunday. 

More than 60 flights from the UK — bringing an estimated 10,000 tourists —landed at the Geneva airport this weekend before the ban was introduced, RTS public broadcaster reported.

Switzerland also immediately withdrew freedom of movement privileges from British nationals, which were due to expire at the end of year in any case, as Britain leaves the European Union. 

 “Persons from the UK are therefore subject to a general ban on entering Switzerland,” it said.

The government added: “No cases of the new strain have so far been identified in Switzerland.”

 

 

 

 

 

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COVID-19

Public Health Agency recommends two Covid doses next year for elderly

Sweden's Public Health Agency is recommending that those above the age of 80 should receive two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine a year, once in the spring and once in the autumn, as it shifts towards a longer-term strategy for the virus.

Published: 23 December 2022 10:53 CET
Public Health Agency recommends two Covid doses next year for elderly

In a new recommendation, the agency said that those living in elderly care centres, and those above the age of 80 should from March 1st receive two vaccinations a year, with a six month gap between doses. 

“Elderly people develop a somewhat worse immune defence after vaccination and immunity wanes faster than among young and healthy people,” the agency said. “That means that elderly people have a greater need of booster doses than younger ones. The Swedish Public Health Agency considers, based on the current knowledge, that it will be important even going into the future to have booster doses for the elderly and people in risk groups.” 

READ ALSO: 

People between the ages of 65 and 79 years old and young people with risk factors, such as obesity, diabetes, poor kidney function or high blood pressure, are recommended to take one additional dose per year.

The new vaccination recommendation, which will start to apply from March 1st next year, is only for 2023, Johanna Rubin, the investigator in the agency’s vaccination programme unit, explained. 

She said too much was still unclear about how long protection from vaccination lasted to institute a permanent programme.

“This recommendation applies to 2023. There is not really an abundance of data on how long protection lasts after a booster dose, of course, but this is what we can say for now,” she told the TT newswire. 

It was likely, however, that elderly people would end up being given an annual dose to protect them from any new variants, as has long been the case with influenza.

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