Switzerland should tighten restrictions to prevent spike in coronavirus cases: Advisor

Switzerland should tighten restrictions to curb the spread of coronavirus, in order to prevent stricter lockdown conditions, country’s new head of COVID-19 task force said. The EU country which has reported over 35412 cases till now recently saw a sharp spike in coronavirus infections.

In July, the country saw a surge in its daily average of cases with 200 people testing positive every day. This came as a shock to Swiss authorities who reported an average of 35 in June. Warning the government of a second wave, Martin Ackermann said that the country was on the brink of “big rise in infections and had little room to manoeuvre.”

The Taskforce chief also advised the government to intervene at an earlier stage to prevent exponential growth Of COVID-19. However, he warned that, if not controlled, it could lead to drastic and expensive restrictions, which according to him, should be prevented under all circumstances.

Read: Switzerland To Expand List Of Countries With Bad Epidemiological Situation To 42

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'Make masks compulsory indoors'

Switzerland has lifted partial lockdown which it imposed in March. However, Ackerman has demanded to make masks and face-covering compulsory indoors, not just on public transport. Another thing that he has talked about is to reduce the size of public gatherings to 100. Currently, the country allows for events to be held with nearly 1000 people.

This comes as Swiss authorities announced that passengers entering the country from any of the nations which it believes to have a bad epidemiological situation will be subjected to a 10-day quarantine. However, it later expanded that list to include  42 countries with the new additions being Bosnia and Herzegovina, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Eswatini, Guatemala, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Luxembourg, Maldives, Mexico, Montenegro, Palestine, Suriname and the United Arab Emirates.

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Read: COVID-19 Lockdown: Switzerland To Lift Travel Restrictions On EU, UK From June 15