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COVID-19

Omicron in Switzerland: Vaccinated people also have to quarantine

Anyone in Switzerland who has had close contact with a person infected with the new variant must quarantine for 10 days, regardless of their vaccination status. Here’s why.

Published: 2 December 2021 12:55 CET
Exposure to the Omicron variant means a 10-day quarantine, even for the vaccinated. Photo: KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI / AFP
Exposure to the Omicron variant means a 10-day quarantine, even for the vaccinated. Photo: KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI / AFP

As Omicron is relatively new in Europe and Switzerland, health officials don’t yet know whether vaccines offer effective protection against it.

This is especially pertinent as one of the three Swiss residents infected with the variant — a 19-year-old student from Basel — was fully vaccinated against Covid.

READ MORE: First Omicron cases detected in Switzerland

Even if there is a mere suspicion of Omicron contagion, people have to remain in quarantine for 10 days as a precautionary measure against inadvertently spreading the new strain of the virus.

During this time they must stay home and not leave the house for any reason.

While previously it was possible to be released from the quarantine after seven days if a test result was negative, early termination by means of a test is not an option right now.

“We don’t recommend this at the moment,” said Patrick Mathys , head of the crisis management section at the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH).

This is unlike contact with known variants of the virus, where vaccinated people are not required to quarantine. 

More than 100 people in Switzerland are in quarantine now due to the exposure to Omicron.

Among them are classmates and others who had been in contact with the Basel student, as well as those who could have contracted it from the two people in Geneva who both tested positive after returning from South Africa.

In addition, a number of cases are currently being clarified in more detail in Switzerland, though FOPH doesn’t yet know if they are due to Omicron or Delta, the latter being the predominant virus in the country right now.

So do we have to assume that there are numerous other undiscovered Omikron cases in Switzerland?

It is a possibility.

“It could be that the variant is actually more widespread in Switzerland than we know today”, according to Thomas Steffen, cantonal doctor in Basel.

Right now, health authorities are busy investigating whether “they are individual cases or the first clusters.”

If you are entering Switzerland from certain countries, you must quarantine as well. These links provide more information about this requirement for travellers.

UPDATE: What are the current rules for entering Switzerland?

Can travellers land in Switzerland and transit elsewhere under new Covid rules?

KEY POINTS: What are the new Covid travel rules between Switzerland and the UK?

Member comments

  1. I guess this rule will make people less willing to test, no one wants to be the one locking friends or colleagues up for ten days.

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COVID-19

What does the increase in the number of Covid cases in Switzerland mean?

Coronavirus infections are on the rise again, with Swiss health officials and epidemiologists expressing concern over the possible evolution of the disease.

Published: 15 November 2023 15:32 CET
What does the increase in the number of Covid cases in Switzerland mean?

While the worst of the Covid pandemic is long over, and experts don’t expect it to re-emerge with the same strength and health consequences as it had in 2020, new cases have been reported in the past weeks.

Wastewater analysis, one of the means employed by health officials to measure the presence of coronavirus, indicates a viral load that is at least five times higher than usual, with values “now almost as high as in some previous Omicron-related waves,” Christoph Ort, spokesperson for Eawag Institute, which traces Covid viruses in 14 wastewater treatment plants in Switzerland, told the media.

What does this mean?

According to Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH), the most common sub-variant in Switzerland right now is the highly transmissible XBB, also known as ‘Kraken.’

The Eris and Pirola variants, which circulated in the summer and early fall are also still present.

While none is nearly as dangerous (at least for most people) as the early Alpha and Delta viruses, which claimed hundreds of thousands of lives in the early stages of the pandemic, there is a reason for concern nevertheless.

“It’s a start of a small wave,” said Rudolf Hauri, head of the Cantonal Doctors’ Association.

“More people are being admitted to hospitals again with, or because of, coronavirus. There are also new cases in intensive care units, but these are generally people with a medical history.”

Should you be worried?
 
While the number of people with serious Covid-related complications is not expected to be as high as previously, the rise in the number of infections should not be trivialised either, infectious disease specialists say.
 
This is especially important for people in the high-risk category — those over 65 or suffering from chronic illnesses — who can get quite sick if infected with the new variants, according to FOPH.
 
This is all the more important as the flu season is about to begin in Switzerland as well, and the confluence of both illnesses, plus other respiratory viruses that typically circulate during the winter, can be very risky.
 
What can you do to protect yourself?
 
Other than adopting the same protective measures as those during the pandemic — that is, washing hands, avoiding close contacts and crowded spaces, and wearing masks where needed — health officials also recommend top-up shots, for both Covid and flu.

READ ALSO: Who should get top-up Covid and flu jabs in Switzerland?

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