Swiss authorities announced Sunday night that they had identified a “possible first case” of the Omicron variant in Switzerland, on a traveler returning from South Africa.
The man returned to Switzerland about a week ago. In the next few days, the analysis of the genome will be completed and it will be determined if it is really a carrier of this variant, the federal Health Service said in a post on Twitter.
Switzerland banned all travelers from South Africa, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia and Zimbabwe indefinitely on Friday. Only Swiss citizens and those who have a residence permit in the country are excluded. Travelers from this region but also from other countries (Israel, Belgium, the Netherlands…) must take a negative test for Covid-19 and, in addition, be quarantined for 10 days.
In Switzerland, a country of 8.6 million people, there have been about 980,000 cases and 11,000 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic. 65% of the population is fully vaccinated, a smaller percentage compared to other Western European countries.
Although cases have been on the rise lately, the government has avoided imposing tougher health restrictions. However, Health Minister Allen Bersett warned that the appearance of Omicron could change the data.
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