Night-owls, your time has come. Clubs across Switzerland are allowed to reopen from this Saturday, June 26, as part of the latest round of coronavirus restriction easings announced by the government.
Clubbers will also be pleased to hear that the idea of a 250-person limit for clubs has been dropped. This means that clubs can operate at full capacity – provided all punters have a valid Covid Certificate, supplied through the new government programme that launched in early June.
A host of other reopening steps have also been announced, all coming into effect on the same day, June 26. Working from home will become a recommendation rather than a requirement, and restaurants no longer have to limit the number of diners at a table, meaning that you can once again look forward to more of those awkward conversations about who’s paying for what on the bill.
Large-scale events can also kiss goodbye to the restrictions they’ve been working with, as long as everyone present has a Covid Certificate. Provided that everyone is certificated-up, this means that events with more than 10,000 people can go ahead and attendees don’t have to wear masks. Events without a Covid Certificate requirement are still subject to limitations.
Over in the education world, there’ll be no restrictions on class sizes and no need for regular testing for face-to-face teaching at professional education, continuing education and higher education institutions.
Good news also for those wanting to cool the hell down on those days when it stops raining and the summer temperatures shoot back up: water parks can reopen. At time of writing, June 26 is looking like a scorcher in many places around Switzerland, so the timing couldn’t be better.
These decisions arrive after the previous round of lockdown easings on May 31 were judged to “have not had a negative impact on the development of the COVID-19 epidemic in Switzerland,” according to the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) website.
Government information on the website also states that “Case numbers and hospital admissions due to COVID-19 are continuing to fall sharply. In addition, around half of the adult population will be fully vaccinated by the end of [June].”
As ever, the government is still urging people to be cautious and not to take risks, in order to help the situation continue to improve. Keep checking the FOPH website for the latest info.