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UPDATED: A step-by-step guide to getting the Swiss Covid certificate

Switzerland has made its Covid-19 health pass available, which will help with travel, nightclubs and events. Here’s how you get it.

Published: 7 June 2021 18:02 CEST
Updated: 27 August 2021 13:58 CEST
UPDATED: A step-by-step guide to getting the Swiss Covid certificate
Switzerland's Covid-19 certificate app up close. Image: FOPH

On Monday, June 7th, Switzerland finally released its Covid-19 certificate, which will provide certain rights and privileges to holders for travel and events. 

The Covid-19 certificate – otherwise known as the Covid-19 pass or the green pass – is available in paper and digital form. 

According to the Swiss government, the pass “provides documentary evidence that you have had a COVID-19 vaccination, have had and recovered from the disease or have tested negative”. 

More information about what the pass allows holders to do can be found at the following link. 

UPDATED: Everything you need to know about the ‘green pass’, Switzerland’s coronavirus immunity card

What is the Covid certificate?

The Covid-19 certificate – otherwise known as the Covid-19 pass or the green pass – is available in paper and digital form. 

According to the Swiss government, the pass “provides documentary evidence that you have had a COVID-19 vaccination, have recovered from the disease or have tested negative”. 

What will the certificate look like? 

The Covid-19 certificate will be issued to you in paper and electronic form, which will either be as a printed out certificate or as a QR code which you can scan into Switzerland’s Covid Certificate App to carry and display from your mobile device. 

While this is a cantonal responsibility, you will generally be given a paper copy of your vaccination certificate while also being sent the electronic version. 

Besides the person’s first and last names, date of birth and a certificate number, the COVID certificate contains details of their COVID-19 vaccination, recovery, or negative PCR or rapid antigen test. 

The heart of the certificate is the QR code. 

In both cases, they will be accompanied by an official government electronic signature to prevent forgery. 

Authorities said holders may also need to show their ID or passport when presenting the certificate. 

The digital system comprises in particular a storage application (Covid Certificate) and a verification application (Covid Certificate Check), the government said. 

Both apps are available for free. Here is the link for the Apple App store here, and that for Android. 

Switzerland’s Covid-19 certificate app up close. Image: FOPH

Where can I get the Covid-19 certificate? 

You get the certificate in the place in which you were vaccinated, recovered from the virus or tested negative. 

This means you can get the certificate at any of the following locations: Vaccination centres, medical practices, hospitals, pharmacies, test centres and laboratories. 

If you have already been fully vaccinated and did not receive a QR code, you must contact cantonal authorities to get the certificate. 

If you have recovered from the virus, you will also need to contact your canton. You will need to have had the virus and recovered in the previous six months – and you will need documentary evidence of this. 

READ MORE: How do you prove you’ve recovered from Covid in Switzerland?

For people who test negative, you will be given a certificate. 

Both PCR and antigen tests apply here, although the validity differs. 

A negative PCR test is valid for 72 hours, while a negative antigen test is valid for 48 hours. 

Self tests are not valid for the certificate.  

While you will get a paper print out with a negative test in most cases, you can also get it displayed on the Covid Certificate App by scanning in your QR code.

The app – which is different to the Swiss Covid tracing app – is available here for Google/Android phones and here for Apple phones.

You can scan the QR code into the app, then it will be recorded there and you can use it as you would the paper slip.

How will this allow me to travel? 

Yes. 

As of Friday, July 9th, Switzerland’s Covid certificate has become a part of the EU travel framework. 

The European Union and Switzerland will recognise each other’s Covid vaccination certificates from Friday, July 9th.

This means you do not need to get an additional app – you can use your Swiss Covid Certificate app to travel in the EU. 

More information about this is available at the following link. 

EXPLAINED: How to use Switzerland’s Covid app when travelling in the EU

Member comments

  1. How can US visitors fully vaccinated with the Moderna vaccine in the US get a Swiss COVID 19 certificate ?We are visiting Switzerland in a week, we would appreciate any help you can provide. Thank you.

    1. Hi,

      We are traveling to Switzerland in a week and had the same question about receiving the Swiss Covid 19 certificate. I was wondering if you ever sorted this out and had a solution you could share?

  2. I’m going to be in Switzerland for a couple of weeks in October. Does anyone know if the NHS app (U.K.), proving I’m doubly vaccinated, will be accepted in cafes, restaurants? I’d be very grateful for any info.

    Thks

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For members

TRAVEL NEWS

How the Swiss train timetable’s ‘biggest change in 20 years’ will impact you

The new timetable will not go into effect until December 15th, but Switzerland’s national rail company, SBB, already revealed major changes in various regions.

Published: 21 May 2024 15:55 CEST
How the Swiss train timetable's 'biggest change in 20 years' will impact you

The region that will benefit the most by what the SBB calls “the biggest timetable change” in over two decades, is the French-speaking part of the country in the west, which the company previously said will experience fewer direct connections and longer travel times between certain cities due to ongoing construction work. 

But faced with criticism from commuters, the SBB changed its strategy.

“The new timetable was created with the input of all the cantons of western Switzerland,” the company said in a press release on Tuesday.

“Even if the service occasionally deteriorates, it provides new direct connections with the west of Lausanne, improvements in regional traffic, as well as reinforced services to the [Vaud] Riviera and Lower Valais in particular.”

And “between Bienne and Geneva, customers benefit from a half-hour rate, subject to a train change in Renens. Direct connections are maintained during peak hours.”

One of the “great new features of the new timetable” is the service to the Lausanne suburb of Renens by certain mainline trains coming from, or going to, other regions of Switzerland.

This will allow some 4,000 commuters bound for western Lausanne each day to get off directly at Renens rather than changing trains at Lausanne station, while it is under construction.

These mainline trains will stop there:

  • InterCity IC5 (Rorschach/Zürich–Biel/Bienne–Neuchâtel–Yverdon-les-Bains–Renens–Lausanne, every half hour)
  • InterCity IC1 (St-Gallen/Zürich–Berne–Fribourg/Freiburg–Lausanne–Renens–Geneva/Geneva-Airport, every hour)
  • InterRegio IR90 (Brig–Sion–Martigny–St-Maurice–Montreux–Lausanne–Renens–Geneva/Geneva-Airport, every hour)
  • RegioExpress RE33 (Annemasse–Geneva–Coppet–Nyon–Gland–Rolle–Allaman–Morges–Renens–Lausanne–Vevey–Montreux–Villeneuve–Aigle–Bex–St-Maurice, every half hour and to Martigny, every hour) 

“Thanks to the stop at Renens of the IC1 and IR90 trains, passengers will benefit from a new non-stop connection every 30 minutes between Renens and Geneva, with a travel time saving of nine minutes compared to today,” according to the SBB.

“The stop of the IR90 trains also makes it possible to offer a direct link between Valais and Renens every hour; the stop of IC1 trains, a direct connection between Bern, Fribourg/Freiburg and Renens every hour.”

 On the other hand, however, following this additional stop in Renens, the shortest journey time between Geneva and Lausanne for mainline trains increases from 35 to 39 minutes.

You can view all the other changes, including on regional lines, here and here.

What about the timetable for the rest of Switzerland?

You can expect these connections in 2025:

  • The half-hourly schedule for mainline traffic in the St. Gallen Rhine Valley makes it possible to double the offer for commuters and people traveling for leisure
  • As soon as the Gotthard base tunnel is fully recommissioned in September 2024, SBB will be able to introduce the full half-hourly schedule into mainline traffic on the Gotthard axis
  • Additional IC5 connections between Eastern Switzerland and Zurich will guarantee a denser pace and more seats
  • To relieve congestion at Berne station, an IC connection stops at Berne Wankdorf in the morning and another in the evening during peak hours. Several mainline trains will also stop in Renens in the future. Thanks to the new stops in urban stations, commuters arrive more quickly at their destinations and central stations are relieved of congestion, as is already the case in Zurich with Altstetten and Oerlikon.
  • Night connections allow passengers to return home late and travellers to arrive early at Zurich Airport on the Bern–Olten–Zurich main station–Zurich airport section.

And this is what’s in store for international trains:
 
An additional pair of Zurich–Munich trains will transport passengers (from Monday to Saturday two hours earlier to the Bavarian capital and bring them back in the evening (Monday to Friday and on Sunday) two hours later.

As soon as the Gotthard Base Tunnel is fully in use again in September 2024, direct trains to Bologna and Genoa, as well as the EC Basel–Lucerne–Milan and the tri-national Frankfurt–Zurich–Milan train will operate again .

The direct Zurich–Brig train will now run all year round and will be extended to Domodossola.

Next step

On May 23rd, the Federal Office of Transport (FOT) will initiate the consultation procedure for the proposed timetable. 

Any inconsistencies can be reported until June 9th, 2024.

The new timetable will come into force on December 15th, 2024.

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