Switzerland effectively bans British tourists amid Omicron concerns

Sami Quadri29 November 2021

Switzerland has effectively banned British tourists after it added the UK to its quarantine list.

It means that Britons entering the country must produce a negative Covid test and quarantine for 10 days if they travel Switzerland.

It will dash hopes for thousands of winter holiday-makers who were planning on hitting the slopes this Christmas.

Swiss authorities have widened quarantine restrictions to travellers from Britain, Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Egypt and Malawi, in a bid to contain the Omicron coronavirus variant.

SWITZERLAND-HEALTH-VIRUS-CHRISTMAS
People wear face masks while walking under Christmas lights in the centre of Lausanne in Switzerland
AFP via Getty Images

Experts fear that Omicron could be more contagious than other variants and more resistant to vaccines.

Thirteen cases of Omicron were detected among travellers from South Africa who flew into Amsterdam on Friday.

Britain has added ten countries to its red list in response to the new variant.

Many other countries have imposed travel restrictions on countries in southern Africa.

If the travel restrictions are approved, Israel will become the first nation in the world to completely shut its borders in response to the Omicron variant.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett announced that the ban is set to last for 14 days.

Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked said: “Our working hypotheses is that the variant is nearly in every country…and that the vaccine is effective, although we don’t yet know to what degree.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in