Switzerland slashes quarantine, hoping Omicron is ‘beginning of the end’ of the coronavirus pandemic
- Health Minister Alain Berset says the country could be near a ‘turning point’, and could soon see an endemic phase for Covid-19
- The government is also cutting isolation times for coronavirus patients from 10 days to five, as long as they have been symptom-free for 48 hours
Omicron could be the beginning of the end of the pandemic, the Swiss government said Wednesday as it slashed quarantine times and prolonged restrictions to control the Covid-19 variant.
“We are perhaps on the eve of a turning point which could be decisive in passing from a pandemic to an endemic phase”, with high levels of immunity in the population, Health Minister Alain Berset told a news conference.
“We don’t know, but Omicron could be the beginning of the end of this pandemic.”
Switzerland is facing its fifth wave of cases, though hospitals are not yet overwhelmed.
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Government experts say the Omicron variant of concern now accounts for 90 per cent of all infections.
“Omicron is very contagious, less dangerous, but that is no reason to let our guard down. Nor is it a reason to become alarmist,” Berset said.