ZURICH (Reuters) – The Swiss fitness government has added mainland Spain to its list of countries that other arrivals will have to enter in about 40 days to help stop the spread of the new coronavirus, they said Wednesday.
Patrick Mathys, head of crisis control at the Federal Office of Public Health, said at a briefing in Bern that the action would take from Saturday.
The measure excludes Spain the Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands.
“For the first time, we have not included an entire country on the list, but the spaces where we can say that geographical separation and especially passenger flows – and this is decisive – can be differentiated,” Mathys said.
The Swiss resolution marks the most recent blow to the Spanish economy, which is already in a deep recession and on tourism in 12.3% of its economic output.
Other countries that join that of countries with COVID-19 infection rates that require quarantine are Equatorial Guinea, the Bahamas, Sint Maarten, Singapore, Romania and Sao Tome and Principe, Mathys said.
Russia, Azerbaijan and the United Arab Emirates have been removed from the list.
Reporting through Michael Shields, edited through John Revill
All quotes were delayed for at least 15 minutes. See here for a complete list of transactions and delays.
© 2020 Reuters. All rights are reserved.