STRONGER MEASURES IN SWITZERLAND FACING THE FEAR OF THE FOURTH WAVE
The Swiss federal government announced today the tightening of preventive measures against COVID-19, which will involve the prohibition of public or private gatherings of more than five people, given the high rates of new daily cases and the fear of a third wave at Christmas.
In a press conference called urgently, the president of the confederation, Simonetta Sommaruga, and the Minister of the Interior, Alain Berset, presented the new restrictions, which also include the closure of all shops and restaurants in the country at 7 in the afternoon. Also, all public events are canceled, with the exception of religious celebrations and legislative assemblies, and cultural activities, including school ones.
For the days of Christmas Eve, Christmas and New Years Eve, in which many families gather to celebrate the holidays, the limit of five people will be raised exceptionally to ten. “We are aware that it is going to be a difficult time, in the festive context, but the measures are necessary,” said the Swiss president, who expressed concern about the new upswing in new cases of COVID-19 in the country.
The measures will enter into force on Saturday, December 12, they will last until January 20, and they assume that the federal government once again recovers the management against COVID-19, which it had in the first wave of the pandemic last spring, but in recent months it had yielded to the cantonal authorities.
The measures are announced at a time when Switzerland, with 343,000 cases and 4,800 deaths Since the start of the pandemic, the number of daily cases has not decreased, despite the fact that there have been decreases in neighboring countries such as France, Italy or Germany.
In relation to its Italian neighbor, it was announced today that As of December 10, the rail service between the two countries will be cut due to the fact that the network personnel cannot carry out the security checks required by the Italian authorities.
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