Everything under control: That was the message from the Federal Office of Public Health (here Virginie Masserey) to the media. Image: KEYSTONE
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Corona virus: Swiss people in China are facing a difficult journey
On Saturday evening, one plane is supposed to fly ten Swiss – to the south of France.
The situation is comparatively simple for the Swiss in the sealed-off Chinese city of Wuhan, the epicenter of the Corona Virus. You just have to drive to the French embassy. From there they will be flown to Europe – probably at night on Sunday. It is more difficult for those who live in the surrounding area. At a press conference on Friday, Hans-Peter Lenz, head of the Foreign Department’s crisis management center, described her situation as follows: “You have to make your own way to the agreed meeting point.”
That’s easier said than done. Public life has come to a standstill in the quarantined province. The documents must be presented fully and correctly at checkpoints. Once the Swiss have made it to the collection points, a bus organized by the Swiss authorities takes them to the French embassy.
The principle applies: EU citizens first
A total of ten people are affected. Originally, 14 people wishing to leave had registered, but not all of them were finally ready to take the step. Three of the ten people live in Wuhan City. The remaining seven are up to four hours’ drive away.
It is goodwill that the French fly out of the Swiss at all. Because the rule actually applies: first your own compatriots, then EU citizens. Only in third place do people come from “friendly countries” like Switzerland. If necessary, the Confederation would have been able to evacuate its own people, said Lenz.
Swiss woman reports from virus quarantine
Video: srf
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In France, the evacuees first expect quarantine. They will be accommodated in the Carryle-Rouet holiday resort on the Mediterranean coast, as French General Health Director Jérôme Salomon told Le Parisien. Gendarmes are already guarding access to the resort.
The Swiss are isolated in Carry-le-Rouet for two weeks to ensure that they do not carry the virus. Only then can they go home. A quarantine in Switzerland is currently out of the question, it said in Bern. The French authorities have the know-how and the infrastructure, and they do not want duplications, according to the federal government.
The quarantine only applies to people from the crisis region around Wuhan. All others can enter Switzerland normally. This also applies to Chinese tourists. There is currently no reason to change this practice, said Daniel Koch, head of the communicable diseases department at the Federal Office of Public Health (BAG).
No epidemic outside of China
Up until now, an actual epidemic could only be spoken in the region around Wuhan, said Virginie Masserey from the infection control section of the BAG. “There are no epidemics outside of China,” she said. So far, about a hundred suspected cases have been registered in Switzerland, none of which have been confirmed: “These are still individual cases.”
China is doing everything possible to prevent the virus from spreading unchecked. “We are currently assuming that the Chinese authorities will tell us everything they know,” added Daniel Koch.
The Federal Office of Public Health now networks the international with the cantonal offices. As with the outbreak of the Ebola virus, Switzerland has short-term access to the EU information system. This was done quickly and unbureaucratically.
The nursing staff are relaxed about the approach of the disease. “As far as I can tell, we are well prepared in Switzerland,” says Roswitha Koch from the Swiss Professional Association of Nursing Professionals. They have the necessary material, have emergency plans and are well trained. “We have not heard any exceptional fears on the part of the members.”
