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Switzerland’s ‘risk list’: Turkey, Canada and parts of France, Germany and Italy added to quarantine list

Several countries and regions have been added to Switzerland’s high-risk quarantine list as of Monday, while a handful have been removed.

Published: 19 April 2021 16:36 CEST
Switzerland’s ‘risk list’: Turkey, Canada and parts of France, Germany and Italy added to quarantine list
Photo by Tobias Rademacher on Unsplash

Starting Monday, April 19th, four regions of neighbouring countries have been added to Switzerland’s high-risk list, meaning travellers from these areas must quarantine for ten days upon arrival. 

Seven days: How to leave quarantine early in Switzerland

These regions are France’s Région Bretagne and Région Nouvelle-Aquitaine, the state of Sachsen in Germany, and Regione Puglia in Italy. 

Turkey has been added to the list, as has Croatia, Armenia and Lithuania. 

On April 16th, Canada was also added to the list due to concerns surrounding the Brazilian P1 variant. 

The decision to add or remove countries is based on infection rates. 

Where a country shares a border with Switzerland, regions will be placed on the list rather than the nation as a whole. 

Which countries and regions have been removed?

The French island of Corsica has been removed, along with the Italian regions of Abruzzo, Basilicata, Molise and Umbria. 

Some countries have also been removed from the list. 

The impact of Israel’s rapid vaccination campaign has been dramatic, with the Mediterranean nation removed from the mandatory quarantine list. 

The United Arab Emirates – another vaccination leader – has also been removed, along with Jamaica and Albania. 

The full list – along with more information about the nature of the quarantine and the rules in place – can be seen here. 

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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.” 

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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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