Switzerland allows young children to hug their grandparents as it eases COVID-19 lockdown

Switzerland health ministry recently revised its official advice on the coronavirus pandemic and announced that it is now safe for children under the age of 10 to hug their grandparents.

According to an international media report, the Swiss health ministry's infectious disease chief Daniel Koch said that scientists have concluded that young children did not transmit the virus. He also informed that young children do not have the receptors to catch the deadly disease, therefore they are not infected and nor can they transmit it to another person. 

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However, Koch also said that such meetings should be brief and not involve babysitting. He said that it was not the children who posed a risk to elderly relatives but their parents. He added that the grandparents love to see their grandchildren and meeting them is also important for their mental health. Hence, children under 10 have been allowed to meet the elderly and spend some quality time with their grandparents amid the pandemic. 

With new guidelines, the authorities have also informed that it only applies to young children who show no signs of illness while older children must still avoid contacting the elderly. Authorities emphasised that only ‘brief contact’ is safe and allowed. They strictly advised against family get-togethers, babysitting, or spending time with children outside the home.

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Coronavirus outbreak 

Switzerland is one of the several European countries beginning to ease its COVID-19 lockdown measures. As per reports, the Swiss authorities have also allowed garden centres and hairdressers to reopen their shops. Furthermore, the authorities have informed that schools and shops selling items other than food will be allowed to reopen in two weeks’ time. 

Currently, Switzerland has over 29,000 confirmed coronavirus cases and the deadly virus has claimed nearly 1,716 lives in the country. Meanwhile, over three million COVID-19 cases have been confirmed worldwide with over 226,000 deaths, overwhelming the health care facilities across the globe. The United States, Italy, Spain, and France are the worst-hit countries due to the pandemic with around 62% of the death toll reported from these four countries alone.

(Image: Representational Unsplash/@nikoline_nik) 

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