Switzerland has begun easing coronavirus restrictions. Quarantine rules and work-from-home procedures end on Thursday.

Further measures to ease restrictions will be taken in consultation with regional authorities by February 9. The final decision on how to proceed must be made on February 16.

The government noted a positive trend in hospitals: despite record high infection rates, there was no congestion and intensive care unit occupancy dropped even further, the government said in a statement.

The reason for this is probably the high immunity of the population due to vaccination and previous diseases, the department added.

The omicron variant is said to be less likely to cause severe cases compared to earlier variants of the virus. There are increasing signs that the acute crisis will end soon and an endemic phase may begin, the government said.

Therefore, the requirement for people who test positive for COVID-19 to be in isolation for five days will be lifted, as this measure has lost its significance due to the large number of infections.

On Wednesday, just over 41,000 new cases were reported in Switzerland, bringing the total number of cases since the start of the crisis to 2.29 million.