Sex workers will be allowed to offer services again from this month, subject to strict hygiene measures, Alain Berset, the Swiss interior minister, announced.

Mr Berset told a press conference: “There are certainly personal contacts but a concept of protection seems possible. I am well aware of the bizarre aspect of my answer. To tell you the truth, erotic services could have resumed earlier.”

The move arrives as Switzerland announced it will terminate its state of emergency and end most lockdown measures this month, The Daily Telegraph reports.

The move to reopen the sex trade comes after intense lobbying by Prokore, a Swiss organisation that represents sex workers. Prokore drew up its own proposals for hygiene regulations to allow prostitution to resume and presented them to the Swiss government.

The measures include showers before and after sex, ventilation of the room after each customer, and maintaining social distancing of at least a forearm’s length between heads.