Swiss govt to start easing coronavirus restrictions from April 27

Switzerland will start, from April 27, a gradual relaxation of restrictions introduced to tackle the spread of the new coronavirus, the government said on Thursday. Doctors, hairdressers, massage and cosmetics parlors will be the first businesses to be allowed reopen. This will be followed by primary schools, stores and markets from May 11.

In a third stage, the government will reopen secondary schools, vocational schools and universities from June 8. It also foresees allowing the relaxation of an existing ban on meetings of more than five people. “The transition from one stage to the next will take place when there has been no significant increase in Covid-19 cases,” according to the statement.

The coronavirus outbreak has so far claimed 973 lives in Switzerland, although the rate of positive test results has slowed in recent days, Reuters reports.

Neighboring Austria has announced a partial exit from its own lockdown, and Germany has announced its own small steps out of its restrictions.