Swiss Coronavirus Cases Rise to 9 as Children Placed in Precautionary Quarantine

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Switzerland rose to nine on Thursday, as the canton of Basel-City put a number of children into a two-week quarantine after one of their caregivers tested positive for the virus.

A young woman who returned to work at a daycare facility after traveling to Milan has tested positive for the new coronavirus, authorities in Basel-City said late on Thursday.

“The young woman who resides in the canton of Basel-City is doing well given the circumstances,” the region’s health department said in a statement. “As a carer for children and young children working at a daycare in Riehen, she came into contact with many children. The health department is now making extensive checks in the patient’s professional and personal environment accordingly.”

The daycare facilities in the town of Riehen normally care for around 100 children, the authorities said, but due to ongoing holidays, only a portion of the children had been present in the facility and in close contact with the affected woman.

Another man who had been traveling with the woman also tested positive for the virus on Thursday, the authorities said, adding he resided in a different region, while outside of Basel, regional and national authorities on Thursday confirmed first cases in five further cantons.

In Vaud, a 49-year-old male cross-border worker residing in France was put into isolation following detection, while his wife was “highly suspected” of infection, local authorities said, adding they were working closely with their French counterparts.

In Zurich, a woman around age 30 tested positive for the virus, while in Aargau, a 26-year-old man was being treated in isolated care, both having traveled to northern Italy around one week before, local authorities said in separate statements.

The Swiss health authority earlier on Thursday said one person in Geneva and a couple in the southeastern Alpine canton of Grisons had tested positive for the virus, following a first case confirmed near the border to Italy on Tuesday.

These patients were all in isolated care in hospital and in good health condition, the Federal Office of Public Health said.

By Brenna Hughes Neghaiwi