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The Portuguese community is outraged by the decision of Switzerland to include Portugal in the list of countries at high risk of contagion by the new coronavirus, which forces emigrants to spend Christmas and New Years in their country in a mandatory quarantine of ten days. around the corner. The situation is already causing the cancellation of trips that were scheduled for the festive season and a petition began to circulate for the elimination of Portugal from that list, which already has more than 11 thousand signatures.
Son of a Swiss father and a Portuguese mother, I feel a civic duty to expose a situation that is directly affecting the community of nearly 270,000 Portuguese in Switzerland, with the hope that they will echo it in Portugal. The complaint came to us in this way, in the words of Alexandre Luyet, a voice of protest among several that are multiplying on social networks and in the Swiss media. At stake is the decision of Switzerland, announced on the 4th, to include Portugal in the list of countries at high risk of infection by the new coronavirus, which implies the mandatory ten-day quarantine for anyone returning from that country. The fine for those who fail to comply with this obligation can reach 10,000 Swiss francs (about 9,272 euros).
The measure comes into force next Monday December 14, and it is provoking the outrage of Portuguese emigrants who are so conditioned when traveling to Portugal to spend Christmas and the New Year with family and friends. Many have already canceled trips.
A country is placed on the list when it exceeds by 60 or number of cases per 100,000 inhabitants in 14 days in Switzerland, according to data from the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). “According to official ECDC data, incidences in the last 14 days per 100,000 inhabitants were lower in Portugal than in Switzerland on day 4: 652 and 628.7 for Switzerland and Portugal, respectively,” said Alexandre Luyet, adding that “This trend has been consistently held over the past few days.”
This Thursday, the ECDC indicated that Portugal had 565 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in the last 14 days, less than Switzerland. For this reason, “the Portuguese community does not understand how a completely outdated and unfair list that penalizes the third largest foreign community in Switzerland can come into force next Monday,” explained Alexandre. Thus, they ensured that, although Portugal objectively no longer meets the requirements for inclusion on the list, members of the Portuguese community were forced to cancel their trips to Portugal during Christmas, as the mandatory quarantine of 10 days a la arrival of a country included in the list is not paid ”, he lamented.
Portugal I had already been on the Swiss list high-risk countries in October, but had left by the end of the month. “In a complicated year in which community members have already canceled other planned trips to their country because of the pandemic, it is a great atrocity to” prohibit “them from going to see their loved ones at Christmas,” Alexandre criticized.
Petition with more than 11 thousand signatures to remove Portugal from the list
Meanwhile, an online petition began to circulate for Portugal to be removed from the list of countries subject to quarantine. So far, they have already been collected. more than 11 thousand signatures.
“At the beginning of this week, the figures were not in favor of Portugal. But in recent days we have seen that the incidence in Portugal is decreasing, faster than in Switzerland, since the number of cases in Portugal has been lower in recent days. It is incomprehensible that a decision is made 10 days in advance, when it turns out that the number of cases is higher in Switzerland, ”the petition reads.
The petition, created at the initiative of Samuel Soares, author of the Facebook page “Emigrate to Switzerland”, was sent to the Swiss Ministry of Health by registered mail on Wednesday. “By imposing this quarantine, the Swiss Confederation will ruin the holidays of one of the largest communities in Switzerland, which every year, after a year of work in Switzerland, tries to find their families on the Christmas holidays. The community” Emigrate Switzerland “asks the Confederation to reevaluate this list before it enters into force on December 14,” the emigrants appeal.
“I can’t go to Portugal because I can’t take extra vacation days”
Speaking to JN, Samuel Soares says that he is one of those affected by the situation and that you will not be able to travel to Portugal at Christmas. “For the first time, this list, which is updated approximately every two weeks, was announced 10 days in advance. I, for example, was supposed to go to Portugal during the Christmas holidays for 10 days. However, I cannot go to Portugal because I can’t take seven more days of vacation to stay home when I return from vacation, “laments the Portuguese, who usually spends Christmas in his country,” but not every year, “because his parents live in Portimão and by Sometimes they will spend Christmas in Switzerland.
Samuel says he decided to create the petition “because for the last week I was paying attention to the numbers on a daily basis, because I knew a new list would be announced.” To “great surprise”, Portugal was on the list. “The announcement 10 days in advance was also a strong reason for making this request. I thought that something should be done and a request could give the necessary media attention to change this situation. Currently with more than 11 thousand signatures, this The petition has already reached a large part of the Swiss media.including the news on French and German television in Switzerland, ”he explains.
“The Confederation defends itself by stating that it made the decision in a meeting on December 2. However, it is not clear why it only announced on the 4th if the decision had already been made on December 2,” the Portuguese critic also criticized.
New measures presented this Friday
As for possible changes to the list after sending the petition to the Swiss Ministry of Health, Samuel says that “at the moment it is unknown”, but there will be a press conference this Friday afternoon to present new measures. “We will see if there will be news about the situation in Portugal, since they received the request by registered letter on Wednesday. About the Portuguese authorities, we know since yesterday [quinta-feira] that they are doing everything possible to find a solution with the Swiss authorities ”, he revealed.
JN tried to contact the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but has not received a response so far.
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