Tag Archives: 3.) Health

In July 2020, a group started gathering signatures to launch a public vote to ban Switzerland’s Covid-19 contact tracing app. To launch a referendum in Switzerland organisers must collect 50,000 signatures from eligible voters within 100 days. Organisers of the “Stop Swiss Covid” initiative had until 8 October 2020 to collect 50,000 signatures. According to RTS they failed to reach the required signature milestone. When this happens the vote fails to proceed. The...

© Denis Linine | Dreamstime.com On 7 October 2020, the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) reported 1,077 new cases of SARS-CoV-2 infection over 24 hours. The latest daily infection figure, which is 2.6 time the daily number a week ago. represents a significant jump in daily infections. Switzerland’s 7-day rolling average daily new infection number has jumped from 312 to 632 in a week. In addition, the rate of positivity – the percentage of tests coming back...

© Kaspars Grinvalds | Dreamstime.com At the end of 2018, there were 23,000 doctors in Switzerland, according to a recently published study. Overall, 41% of these doctors were women. Among doctors aged 60-64, the percentage was 28%. However, 62% of doctors under 40 were women, a figure which partly reflects the higher numbers of women graduating from Swiss universities. In 2019, significantly more women than men were university graduates in the youngest age band in...

© Ocskay Mark | Dreamstime.com Nearly 44% of renters surveyed said that coming up with the money pay rent is now harder than it was before Covid-19, according to ASLOCA, a renters’ association. Following the survey the organisation is calling for more protection against the cancellation of rental contracts and moratoriums on evictions. The main reason cited for the current financial difficulties faced when paying rent was falling revenue from fewer hours of work,...

© Simon Kadula | Dreamstime.com The number of recorded Covid-19 cases in Switzerland has declined over the last 12 days. Over the most recent 14 days, the number of recorded cases per 100,000 in Switzerland was 59, below the figure of 60 used by the Swiss health authorities to define a region as high risk. 12 days ago on 20 September, the same rate was 67 per 100,000. The French-speaking canton of Vaud, Switzerland’s most recent Covid-19 hotspot, has recently seen...

© Abdul Sami Haqqani | Dreamstime.com Today, Switzerland’s Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) added 18 regions to its compulsory quarantine list. Anyone arriving in Switzerland from these place from 28 September 2020 will be required by law to quarantine for 10 days. From 14 September 2020, Switzerland shifted from a system of listing entire countries to one which lists whole countries and regions within them. New additions to the list from 28 September 2020...

© Arturs Budkevics | Dreamstime.com As winter approaches the federal and cantonal governments of Switzerland are hoping a larger number of people than normal will get the seasonal flu jab as the spread of Covid-19 continues, according to RTS. In a regular year Switzerland orders 1.2 million doses of the seasonal flu vaccine. These doses have already been ordered and will be delivered in late September and early October. This year the federal government is aiming for...

EHL – source Wikipedia Around three quarters of the students at the hotel school of Lausanne (EHL) have been placed in quarantine after a number of students tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, reported RTS. The 2,500 students affected will be isolated until 28 September 2020 to stop the spread of the virus. The Swiss canton of Vaud, where recorded infections recently reached 213 per 100,000 over 14 days, is currently Switzerland’s Covid-19 hotspot. Eleven students spread...

© Jesada Wongsa | Dreamstime.com Compared to much of the world, confidence in the safety of vaccines is low in Switzerland, according to a recently published study. In 2015, only 30% of Swiss questioned strongly agreed that vaccines were safe, ranking it 133rd out of 149 nations in terms of confidence in vaccine safety. This compared to 89% in Argentina and 86% in both Liberia and Bangladesh. At the same time only 3% in Switzerland strongly disagreed with them being...

© David Moreno | Dreamstime.com The banned substance chlorothalonil, which is in some pesticides, has been found to be above the limit in 60% of ground water samples taken across the canton of Zurich over the last 12 months, reported SRF. Ground water is different to drinking water. Only 20% of drinking water samples taken across the canton had chlorothalonil concentrations above the legal limit, according to the study. However, Natalie Rickli, Zurich health...