These rules apply from Tuesday

On Friday, the Federal Council tightened measures to contain the corona pandemic again. The goal is to reduce contacts between people. The measures apply from Tuesday, December 22, 2020 until January 22, 2021. A summary is provided below:

• People are encouraged to stay home and keep social contacts to a minimum. Unnecessary trips and excursions should be avoided.
• The catering establishments will be closed, even during the holidays. Only take-out food, school canteens and business canteens and restaurants are allowed for hotel guests. Delivery services are also allowed.
• Sports facilities are closed. Up to five people can play sports together outdoors. Spectatorless professional games are still allowed. Children up to 16 years old can play sports together, but not compete.
• All cultural and leisure facilities will be closed, such as museums, cinemas, libraries, casinos, botanical gardens and zoos. Cultural activities in small groups and by children and adolescents under 16 years of age are still possible; events with public are still prohibited.
• Even fewer people can stay in the stores than before. The free zone is decisive. Stores must continue to comply with protection concepts and, as before, close between 7:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. Stores must be closed on Sundays and holidays.
• The cantons continue to decide the ski areas. You can only allow the opening if the epidemiological situation allows it and if there is sufficient capacity for tests, contact tracing and hospitals. Strict protection concepts must be respected.
• Cantons with a small number of cases can, as before, issue different reliefs and, for example, open restaurants or sports facilities. In particular, the number of reproductions, which must be less than 1, and an incidence of 7 days, which must be below the Swiss average, are decisive.
• The use of rapid tests is expanding. Now they can also be performed without symptoms, for example at home or at work. However, anyone who does a quick test outside of the testing criteria must pay for it himself. Pharmacies, hospitals, doctors’ offices, and testing centers can now perform all kinds of rapid tests that meet the criteria of the Federal Office of Public Health (BAG). Until now, only rapid antigen testing with a nasopharyngeal swab was allowed.

Measurements in the canton of Basel-Stadt:

• The measures ordered by the federal government are applied in the canton.
• In addition, the sports facilities are completely closed, also for children and young people under 16 years of age.
• In addition, it is mandatory to wear a mask inside schools and universities. Beginning in high school, students must also wear a mask in class.

Measurements in the canton of Baselland:

• The measures ordered by the federal government are applied in the canton.
• Additionally, a mask is required in offices, school facilities, and the interior of daycare centers.
• Furthermore, patients can no longer be visited in hospitals.