COVID certificates could soon be scrapped, says Swiss health minister

The Swiss Health Minister, Alain Berset, has indicated that the COVID certificate requirement may be scrapped in the coming weeks, along with home working and quarantine rules. The certificate, which is used to prove whether someone is tested, vaccinated against or recovered from COVID-19, has been a hallmark of COVID policy up until now.

COVID certificate in Switzerland may be scrapped if situation improves

Speaking to Schweiz am Wochenende, the minister said, “The COVID-19 certificate period seems to be almost at an end.” He noted that “if the situation develops favourably, in the coming weeks we will be able to make working from home a recommendation not an order, and lift the quarantine rules for close contact cases."

The news comes after changes to COVID policy in Switzerland were announced last week, and it was suggested that the Federal Council would reconvene in early February to discuss a quicker easing of restrictions if the situation in hospitals continues to stabilise. According to epidemiologist Marcel Tanner, "If we continue to get vaccinated and get booster shots as well,” strict measures like certificates and masks will no longer be necessary from the summer.

No strict timeline to scrap Swiss COVID certificate

While Tanner conceded that the virus will not be eradicated completely, he said, "It will be possible to stem cases with specific and targeted measures.” He advocated a return to random testing rather than “large-scale testing and mass data collection,” which he said did not improve predictions and only caused fear among the public.

In the interview with Schweiz am Wochenende, Berset said that he did not know when the pandemic would end, but believed that “we are on the way to improvement.” He did not give a timeline as to when he expected the COVID certificate to be scrapped, recalling, “The virus has already shown itself to be unpredictable.”