Europe continues to be getting nervous on rising COVID-19 cases. The way various countries are changing quarantine rules so frequently, they have more or less become like stock indices to be kept track of on regular basis. In the most recent development, Switzerland has amended its list of countries at risk from high rates of infection with the new coronavirus. List now covers all nations outside Europe’s passport-free Schengen zone barring a score of exceptions.
The new list has some notable exceptions though, including Australia, Ireland, Japan, Canada, South Korea and New Zealand, although Australia and Japan are themselves facing a resurgence of novel coronavirus in their respective countries. The Swiss move, which aims to curb the spread of the COVID-19, takes effect on Saturday. The list covers countries from which tourists cannot enter for short stays. Switzerland expanded a list of countries from which people must enter a 10-day quarantine only on Wednesday, when mainland Spain was added. However, its borders with Italy, Austria, Germany and France are currently open.
The new announcement comes just a fortnight after authorities in Switzerland decided to ease entry restrictions from July 20, for citizens coming from 21 countries, which were considered epidemiologically safe regarding Coronavirus situation. Besides the countries included in new list, the earlier list also included Algeria, Georgia, Morocco, Rwanda, Tunisia, Thailand, and Uruguay. European Union countries, which were removed on 20th July from the list of risk countries, included Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Romania, Andorra, Monaco, San Marino and the Vatican.
Before that, because of tightening of restrictions from 6th July, travellers to Switzerland from 29 countries were supposed to register with the authorities and go into self-isolation to prevent a resurgence of the coronavirus. That list included the United States, Sweden, Brazil and Russia, which were designated as countries with a high risk of infection. All visitors who had spent time in the named countries in the previous 14 days were supposed to notify the Swiss authorities immediately on arrival and then go into quarantine for 10 days. The list of affected countries also included Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and Serbia.
Now, as of Saturday, August 8, tourists from countries considered to be high-risk will not be able to enter Switzerland for short stays. And, this trend is continuing all over Europe and many European countries are reimposing travel restrictions.
While, UK is expected to remove Belgium from its quarantine-free “green” list, Belgium, the Netherlands and Andorra have been removed from Finland’s green travel list, putting a stop to tourists arriving from those countries. Meanwhile, Norway reimposed a 10-day quarantine for arrivals from France, Monaco, Switzerland, the Czech Republic and some Swedish regions.
Another nation at risk of being removed from the FCO’s green list is Malta. Along with Belgium, it has seen its case rates treble in the last month, putting them above Portugal and Sweden – both of which are excluded from the UK’s quarantine-free list.
On 30th June EU had decided that its borders will be reopened to citizens from 15 non-EU countries, including Canada, Morocco and Australia, but not the US, Brazil and Russia. China was on the list, but subject to a reciprocal agreement. The so-called “safe travel destinations” were, besides China: Algeria, Australia, Canada, Georgia, Japan, Montenegro, Morocco, New Zealand, Rwanda, Serbia, South Korea, Thailand, Tunisia and Uruguay. The UK and four other non-EU states – Switzerland, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway – were automatically included as “safe”. But that unanimous decision by the European Council was not legally binding, so states were free to choose not to open up to all those countries. Hence, the trend continues.