Swiss impose new Covid regulations but Valais canton exempt

@admin thats very true and its good to hear another take on this. I do worry that this story is going to get really big for the wrong reasons, I have already seen some ski hating tweets flying round. Really interesting re the texts to Brits not even in Switzerland.

Quick question for Swingbeep if you're around?

The UK FCO Travel Advice for Switzerland ( https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/switzerland ) includes the following...

UK FCO wrote:British citizens currently in quarantine who intend to travel to the airport will need to follow protective measures to remain in quarantine; your local cantonal authorities will be able to advise on this, which may include avoiding public transport.

That implies that tourists told to quarantine are/may be allowed to leave the country if they "follow protective measures". Would that include climbing into your own car and driving it home? Swingbeep (or anyone else familiar with the details) - is that your understanding of the Swiss regulations?


Edited to add: Found this, addressing the case that your stay is less than the 10 day quarantine.

Arriving from a country with increased risk

...which includes...

If you do not exhibit any symptoms, you should generally be able to continue your journey. However, the cantonal authority may impose certain conditions for your onward journey, such as the requirement to wear a mask.

I'm not a lawyer, but you can certainly read that as leaving the door open for an "onward journey" home, and it doesn't seem to preclude cutting your stay short if you've already arrived.

Because of the discovery of new, more transmissible strains of SARS-CoV-2 in the UK and South Africa the Swiss Federal Council banned the entry of people traveling from those two countries on 21st December and instructed anyone who had arrived since 14th December to go into quarantine, in total around 10, 000 people were affected. They were told to follow the procedure given here: https://www.bag.admin.ch/bag/en/home/krankheiten/ausbrueche-epidemien-pandemien/aktuelle-ausbrueche-epidemien/novel-cov/empfehlungen-fuer-reisende/quarantaene-einreisende.html#-1306781457

The enforcement of quarantine is the responsibility of the cantons, if the 200 or so individuals who are reported to have left Verbier obtained permission from the cantonal authorities to do so then they are in the clear. If not, they have committed an offence under the Epidemics Act which is punishable by a fine of up to CHF 10,000.

Admin, according to Art. 4 of the 'Ordinance on Measures to Combat the Coronavirus (COVID-19) in International Passenger Transport' the only tourists who are exempt from quarantine are: "persons who as transit passengers have stayed less than 24 hours in a country or area with an increased risk of infection" and "persons who enter Switzerland for the purpose of transiting the country and who intend and are able to travel on directly to another country". https://www.admin.ch/opc/en/classified-compilation/20201948/index.html

On the 23th December the Swiss Federal Office of Civil Aviation issued a temporary derogation from the flight ban to enable the persons ordered to quarantine to return home for Christmas https://www.bazl.admin.ch/bazl/en/home/media%20/Medienmitteilungen.msg-id-81814.html

The Valais Cantonal Police announced today that they were investigating 12 British tourists who had left the Canton in spite of being ordered to go into quarantine.

https://www.policevalais.ch/communiques-pour-les-medias/valais-bilan-intermediaire-de-lengagement-des-forces-de-police-durant-les-fetes-de-fin-dannee/

SwingBeep wrote:The Valais Cantonal Police announced today that they were investigating 12 British tourists

Thanks SB, so a bit different to the 100s being falsely reported elsewhere. It'll be interesting to see if any action is taken; especially as it looks pretty clear that there was a time (perhaps just Xmas Eve?) when even those in quarantine were being allowed to leave, and some were apparently told they could either leave or quarantine (as a handful did stay).

According to the press release the police only carried out 150 spot checks, so its likely that more than 12 people disappeared.

The figure of 100s originates from Jean-Marc Sandoz, the media spokesman for the municipality of Bagnes, to which Verbier belongs. He said that the authorities there had identified 420 tourists from the UK who had to be quarantined. About 50 left immediately, and of the remaining 370, less than a dozen were still there on 24th December.

If it is found that there are grounds for prosecution and the public prosecutor decides not to take action it would send a very bad signal to the local population.

Special transfer services were laid on for the people who were allowed to leave quarantine and the airlines had to obtain special permits for the flights that were arranged to take them back home. It took until the 23rd to put these measures in place. https://www.bazl.admin.ch/bazl/en/home/specialists/air-transport/uk-sa_restrictions.html

@SwingBeep great to hear this info from someone out there.

According an article in today's NZZ am Sonntag there was no British exodus from Verbier and Jean-Marc Sandoz is no longer the media spokesman for the municipality of Bagnes.
https://nzzas.nzz.ch/hintergrund/die-flucht-die-keine-war-es-gab-keinen-briten-exodus-aus-verbier-ld.1594611

There is also a shorter article in today's Blick https://www.blick.ch/news/nach-corona-alarm-verwirrung-ueber-briten-im-wallis-die-grosse-flucht-hat-es-gar-nicht-gegeben-id16273513.html