Switzerland has no plans to ask travelers from China for negative COVID-19 test

By Beyza Binnur Donmez

ISTANBUL (AA) - Switzerland said Wednesday that the current pandemic situation "does not presently warrant compulsory testing" for travelers from China.

The decision came after a meeting where the Swiss Federal Council discussed the latest EU recommendations on measures for travelers entering member states by air.

"People in Switzerland currently have strong protection against developing severe COVID-19: many of them have already been vaccinated or have already been infected and recovered. In view of this, the present infection trends in China are not expected to pose an increased risk to the Swiss population or the Swiss health system," the Council said in a statement.

The Council’s views omicron variants of the coronavirus presently circulating in China pose a "small risk" to the population as the variants are already extensively distributed in Switzerland or are already on the decline.

"In addition, the circulation of the virus in Switzerland is currently so high that compulsorily testing the relatively small number of persons arriving in the country from China directly by air would have minimal impact on the virus’ current spread," it said. "The risk of new virus variants of concern developing is also no higher in China than elsewhere."

However, the Council said travelers from and to China should be more comprehensively informed about hygiene measures, adding the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health also advises such travelers that facemasks should be worn.

China faced a spike in infections after dumping its strict “zero-COVID" policy last month, following unrest and unprecedented protests in parts of the country.

Beijing has also scrapped a mandatory five-day quarantine for all arrivals that began Jan. 8.

Several countries, including the US, the UK, Italy, Spain, France, Morocco, Qatar, Canada, Greece, Malaysia, Finland and the Netherlands, announced a negative COVID-19 test result requirement for those arriving from China.