UK adds Switzerland to quarantine list

Switzerland was added to the quarantine list because of the rising number of cases in the country. Keystone / Andy Rain

Switzerland was added on Thursday to the growing list of countries from which travellers coming into the United Kingdom will need to quarantine.

The 14-day quarantine applies from Saturday, August 29 at 3am GMT (5am Swiss time). UK transport minister Grant Shapps announced the news on Thursday, indicating that the measure was needed to slow the spread of the virus.

“Data shows we need to remove the Czech Republic, Jamaica and Switzerland from our list of Coronavirus Travel CorridorsExternal link to keep infection rates down,” Shapps said in a statement. The rule applies to UK residents and visitors.

People arriving from Cuba, however, would no longer have to quarantine, he added.

In June, London imposed a quarantine on all travellers arriving in the UK, before finally choosing to exempt those from certain countries in July, depending on the rate of coronavirus infection. In July, the UK government removed Spain from its travel corridors list, taking some holiday travellers by surprise.

Switzerland has seen the number of positive cases inch upwards in the past few weeks. There were 361 new positive cases in the past 24 hours bringing the seven-day average to over 266.

Other countries

On Thursday, Belgium added three more Swiss cantons to their coronavirus warning list, which includes Zurich, Geneva and Basel City.