Switzerland announces no new health restrictions

Switzerland has decided not to impose new health measure despite record number of Covid-19 cases Keystone / Jean-christophe Bott

The government has decided not to update the Covid-19 health measures.

“The Federal Council (Swiss government) lacks reliable information on whether Omicron patients are burdening intensive care units. Therefore, it is refraining from further measures for the time being,” it said in a statement following an extraordinary phone call organised to discuss the surging number of cases of Covid-19 in Switzerland.

On Thursday the country registered a record 19,032 new cases. Twenty-three people died and 129 new Covid-19 patients are in hospital.

However, the surge in new cases is not leading to more hospitalisations, Swiss health officials said.

The government expects that the proportion of people who have to be hospitalised due to the Omicron variant will be lower than in the previous waves.

“Nonetheless we have a range of new measures ready and can activate them quickly should the health situation deteriorate,” the government said on Thursday.

Possible next steps would include closures of facilities, it added.

On Wednesday evening Interior Minister Alain Berset told Swiss public radio, RTS, that closures would be the “ultimate recourse”.

The government has been under pressure from some cantons to implement stricter measures. On December 17 it announced that only people who have been vaccinated or recovered from Covid-19 were able to enter restaurants, cultural, sporting and leisure venues and attend indoor events.  

It also reinstated home office and limited the number of people attending private gatherings.

“The time has not yet come for the Federal Council to take new measures to fight the pandemic,” Berset tweeted on Wednesday.

Separately, the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) announced that the cantons can decide to shorten the quarantine period for people who have had close contact with an infected person from ten to seven days.

“The shorter period is intended to mitigate the impact of quarantine measures on society,” the FOPH wrote on Friday.  

Following the announcement, cantons Ticino, Basel, Vaud, Zug, Fribourg and Neuchâtel are shortening the quarantine period from January 3.