Important information concerning COVID-19

The following link will take you to the FOPH’s official main page. There you will find information on the current situation in Switzerland and abroad, FAQs, recommendations for travellers and for the workplace, and information for health workers.

Current situation

You will find coronavirus-related statistics on covid19.admin.ch.

Contents

Hygiene and social distancing recommendations

Now that the measures and restrictions have been lifted, individual responsibility is becoming more important. How we protect ourselves and others now depends on our own behaviour.
If you want to continue to protect yourself, you can follow these basic principles:

Get vaccinated

Wear a face mask

Ventilate several times a day

Wash or sanitise your hands thoroughly

Cough and sneeze into a tissue or the crook of your arm

Avoid shaking hands

SwissCovid app: temporary suspension

Now that the isolation requirement has been lifted, the conditions for the effective continued operation of the SwissCovid app are no longer in place, at least temporarily. For this reason the Federal Council has decided to suspend the SwissCovid app for the time being. This is in line with the legal basis, which provides for the system to be deactivated if it is no longer needed to combat the pandemic. However, we continue to keep a close eye on the epidemiological situation and will resume operation of the SwissCovid app if it becomes necessary to do so. For this reason we will maintain the necessary IT infrastructures in the background.

What should I do as a user of the SwissCovid app?

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Should I uninstall the app?
Yes. You can uninstall the app.

What can I do if I’m unwilling or unable to uninstall the app?
Update the app. The latest version of the SwissCovid app only contains a screen with the information that it has been suspended. Data are no longer exchanged between mobile phones and the interface to Apple and Google is automatically switched off.

What can I do if I’m unwilling or unable to uninstall or update the app?
You can turn off the interface to Apple and Google manually. You do this as follows: go to Settings > Google services & preferences > (for Android) COVID-19 Exposure Notifications or (for iOS) Contact Notifications, and turn off the notifications.

This does not apply to the “COVID Certificate” app.

How do new variants like Omicron arise?

All viruses change naturally as long as they are circulating within the population.
When a virus reproduces, changes sometimes occur in its genetic material. These changes are called mutations and lead to the emergence of a new variant of the virus. This is normal and to be expected; often mutations have no effect or are harmful to the virus. Occasionally mutations put the virus at an advantage so that it spreads as a new variant in the population. A number of coronavirus variants have already been identified and described.

Travelcheck – The tool for the entry into Switzerland

With the new tool “Travelcheck” you can quickly find out which precautions you have to take to enter Switzerland.

Informational and explanatory videos

Various videos provide information on the measures to contain the coronavirus pandemic.

Protect Yourself and Others: campaign overview

On 27 February 2020 the Federal Office of Public Health launched the Protect Yourself and Others information campaign to help control the spread of the new coronavirus. Among other things it informed members of the public about the hygiene and behavioural recommendations to follow for preventive purposes, but also in the event of infection with COVID-19. In the Campaign archive you’ll find an overview of all the phases of the campaign.