For the first time since the start of the pandemic, a mouth mask is mandatory in public transport in Switzerland.

Authorities previously advised people only to wear face-covering during rush hour, but many travellers ignored that recommendation.

The situation was quite different on Monday after the mouth mask obligation came into effect. “It looks good,” director Guido Schoch of the VBZ carrier in Zurich told local media. “More than 95 percent of people wear mouth masks.”

Switzerland is not the only country that makes it mandatory to wear masks in public transport. Such rules also apply in the Netherlands.

The number of corona infections in Switzerland has risen sharply in recent times.

In the canton of Jura near the French border, some 400 students and teachers from two schools had to be quarantined last weekend after new coronation cases were discovered.

In Switzerland, travellers from 29 risk countries must be self-insulated for 10 days on Monday. This includes people from Sweden and the United States.