Switzerland cancels quarantine requirement for arrivals from Egypt, 4 other countries

CAIRO – 4 December 2021: The Swiss government announced on Friday canceling the quarantine requirement for arrivals in Switzerland from Egypt, the UK, Malawi, the Netherlands, and the Czech Republic.

In November, Switzerland announced imposing a ten-day-quarantine on arrivals from these countries due to the emergence of the new coronavirus variant known as Omicron.

Early this month, EgyptAir announced the suspension of its flights to and from Toronto, Canada, starting from Thursday until further notice.

The decision was announced after Canada had barred the entry of people arriving from Egypt, in light of the precautionary measures taken to confront the spread of the mutated Omicron.

The company called on its customers traveling from and to Toronto to review their bookings and amend their flight schedules by calling the Customer Service Center 1717 in Egypt or throughout EgyptAir’s offices in Egypt and around the world.

The World Health Organization announced Friday it has designated the newly identified coronavirus variant, as a variant of concern.

Dozens of cases that contracted the new variant were found in South Africa, Bostwana, Hong Kong, Belgium and many other countries.

The official spokesperson for the Egyptian Ministry of Health, Hossam Abdel Ghaffar, revealed a set of measures had been approved in light of reports related to the Omicron.

The Egyptian Ministry of Health "instructed to raise the degree of maximum preparations for quarantine in all air, land and sea ports of Egypt, while raising the level of verification that those coming to the country are free of any possible infections, especially with the new mutation," Abdel Ghaffar said.

He added that the immediate test known as ID NOW COVID-19 test is still in force at various outlets, and is among the measures taken to confront the new mutant.

He also stressed that the Egyptian authorities are "closely monitoring everything that is published about the Omicron mutant, and are taking resolute and multiple measures to deal with it."