The cantons of Basel City, Basel Country, Aargau and Solothurn announced on Wednesday that rising infection rates necessitated the reintroduction of coronavirus lockdown measures. 

The measures will be put in place from Thursday, July 9th onwards and will include a lower maximum number of guests for nightclubs – or a mask requirement for all attendees. 

The maximum amount of guests who can attend a private party, restaurant, nightclub or other event will be reduced from 300 to 100, unless all guests wear masks while in the club. 

READ: Several Swiss cantons to reintroduce coronavirus restrictions from July 9th

Larger venues will be allowed to exceed the maximum on the premises provided that the number of patrons in each separate area does not exceed 100. 

Contact data must still be recorded. 

The rules will apply until December 31st, except for in Solothurn where the end date provided has been August 31st. 

The full press release can be found here. 

Nightclubs under scrutiny

There have been several outbreaks in Switzerland’s nightclubs, with hundreds of people forced into quarantines as a result. 

READ: With more coronavirus outbreaks, did Switzerland reopen nightclubs too soon? 

On Sunday, June 29th, Swiss authorities announced the temporary closure of Zurich’s flamingo club after a ‘superspreader’ event led to several positive coronavirus tests and required 300 people to quarantine.

News has now emerged of several further outbreaks at Swiss bars and nightclubs, with patrons receiving messages that they may be infected, with some being told to quarantine.

On Wednesday, Swiss media reported that revellers who attended Zurich’s Plaza Club on June 26th that they “may have had contact with a person suffering from Covid-19”.

A text message from the cantonal medical service told attendees “it cannot be ruled out that they were exposed to the new corona virus and infected.”

Partygoers were not forced to quarantine, but were told to avoid crowds and contact a doctor if they had symptoms.

Attendees at Terminus in Olten, Solothurn on Saturday, June 27th have been asked to quarantine after a case of coronavirus was confirmed.

The club wrote on Facebook that an attendee had tested positive.

Owner Dušan Nedeljković told 20 Minutes: “We were of course shaken by this news. You don't want any reports about positive corona tests – and certainly not if it affects a visitor to your own establishment”.

The news of the outbreaks came just one day after two further outbreaks were detected in Zurich and in the neighbouring canton of Aargau.

300 people were told to quarantine after attending the Flamingo Bar in Zurich, while 20 people have tested positive among 100 attendees at the Tesla Bar in Spreitenbach.