Tag Archives: 3) Swiss Markets and News

© Alexirina27000 | Dreamstime.com Switzerland’s Federal Council announced on June 2 that it plans to maintain border restrictions with Italy until further notice as a reciprocal border arrangement with Italy would be premature. From 3 June 2020, Swiss residents will be able to travel to and return from Italy, but Italians or Italian residents will not be able to travel to and from Switzerland unless they are able to under current border restrictions, for example...

Voici une vidéo tournée par Christian Campiche lors d’une rencontre matinale autour d’un café. Christian s’est mis à enregistrer alors que nous parlions de ce que la BNS faisait, et surtout ne faisait pas, pour soutenir la population suisse dans cette période de post-confinement. Mon point de vue est non seulement qu’elle ne fait rien pour l’économie locale, mais qu’elle fait tout pour le marché financier international auquel elle appartient pleinement. embedded...

© Martinmark | Dreamstime.com Based on data from the first wave of Covid-19, epidemic modellers in Zurich estimate Switzerland would have suffered 22,000 deaths without the restrictions on daily life introduced in March 2020. The modelling, done by Fadoua Balabdaoui and Dirk Mohr at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETHZ), estimates nearly 75% of Switzerland’s population would be infected by now. One of the difficulties decision makers face when...

NGOs argue that developing nation debt is borne by the world’s poorest populations. (Keystone / Nic Bothma) A group of 11 NGOs has called on Swiss banks and government ministries to consider offering relief on billions in debt owed by developing nations. The consortium says that the coronavirus pandemic has increased economic pressure on the poorest countries. The NGOs in question are Alliance Sud, Swissaid, Fastenopfer, Bread for All, Helvetas, Terre des Hommes...

The Synhelion prototype installed last year on the roof of ETH Zurich (RSI-SWI) The Covid-19 pandemic has overshadowed the climate crisis, but with the gradual return of consumption and travel, concerns about global warming are resurfacing. A Swiss start-up is developing an aviation fuel produced solely with water, solar energy and CO2. Will this emission-neutral fuel put an end to “flight shame”? Synhelionexternal link is a company founded by researchers at the...

© Mengtianhan | Dreamstime.com 2.1% of the 100,000 hospital staff working across 20 Swiss hospitals were infected with SARS-COV-2, according to a report published in the SonntagsZeitung. The worst affected hospitals were in Geneva (6.26%), Neuchâtel (3.18%), Valais (2.86%), Lausanne (2.75%), Fribourg (2.74%) and Jura (2.11%). Rates of infection in hospitals in German-speaking Switzerland were lower. Thurgau’s hospital recorded the lowest rate (0.36%). Higher...

The Swiss town of Davos, awaiting the arrival of the 2020 WEF. (Keystone / Gian Ehrenzeller) The World Economic Forum has vowed to hold its annual meeting in Davos in January, testing the willingness of a globetrotting elite to resume the high-powered networking that has been frozen by the coronavirus pandemic. Such events have been cancelled around the world since the pandemic began, with many chief executives expressing doubt that they will return to the conference...

© Marcos del Mazo | Dreamstime.com The number of daily new cases has remained low in Switzerland throughout May. The highest number of new cases over this period was recorded on 1 May (119). The latest daily number, published on 29 May, was 31 new daily cases. Since the beginning of May the number has been as low as 10. The total number of reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction, or RT-PCR tests undertaken by 29 May 2020 was 390,688. At the beginning these...

Urs Rohner is Chairman of the Board of Directors at Credit Suisse (Keystone / Ennio Leanza) Major Swiss bank Credit Suisse has issued 15,400 emergency loans totaling CHF2.8 billion ($2.9 billion) during the coronavirus crisis, says board chairman Urs Rohner. The numbers are similar at competitor UBS. On March 25 the Swiss government announcedexternal link a scheme to provide cash-strapped small and medium-sized companies with emergency loans to get through the...

© Octavian Lazar | Dreamstime.com Over the last week there have been an average of 15 new SARS-CoV-2 cases a day. The first confirmed case in Switzerland was recorded on 24 February 2020. In the week that followed the number of new daily infections rose to 31. Another week later the number of new daily cases was 192. The daily new case number then took another 14 days to rise to a peak of 1,464 cases on 23 March 2020 before declining. By 1 May 2020, 39 days later it...