Tag Archives: Editor’s Choice

Vaccination has pushed the percentage of residents in Geneva with antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2 virus up to 67%, according to a recent study by Geneva’s HUG hospital. © Kukotaekaterina | Dreamstime.com To some extent, Geneva has been at the forefront of Switzerland’s experience with Covid-19. Since the beginning of the pandemic, the canton has recorded Switzerland’s highest rate of infection, 54% above the Swiss average. Geneva has also been a leader on...

On 9 July 2021, the Swiss price comparison website Comparis revealed that it had been the victim of a ransomeware cyber attack on Wednesday, 7 July 2021. © Chernetskaya | Dreamstime.com According to Comparis, the attack occurred in the morning. Comparis took down several of its sites as a security measure. The attackers demanded money in exchange for decrypting data. Comparis said that based on the information available most of their databases containing customer...

On 9 July 2021, the Swiss price comparison website Comparis revealed that it had been the victim of a ransomeware cyber attack on Wednesday, 7 July 2021. © Chernetskaya | Dreamstime.comAccording to Comparis, the attack occurred in the morning. Comparis took down several of its sites as a security measure. The attackers demanded money in exchange for decrypting data. Comparis said that based on the information available most of their databases containing customer information were...

On 13 July 2021, Switzerland’s Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) reported 483 new cases of Covid-19, up from a daily average of 274 over the preceding three days. © Sweet Hour Photography | Dreamstime.com The rise in cases follows a rising trend in the incidence of the more infectious Delta variant, which now makes up the majority of DNA sequenced samples in Switzerland. The latest reproduction rate, or R number, in Switzerland overall is 1.47, which means that...

The European Commission has given the Swiss Covid certificate a green light for inclusion on the EU-wide digital Covid certificate platform. This means that holders of Swiss Covid certificates are able to present their Swiss-issued Covid certificate QR codes at ports of entry into EU nations under the same conditions as holders of certificates from EU nations. © maramade | Dreamstime.com The Swiss Covid certificates are valid in 27 EU countries plus Iceland and...

According to RTS, Brussels is close to giving the Swiss Covid certificate a green light for inclusion on the EU-wide digital Covid certificate platform. This means that Swiss residents will soon be able to present their Swiss-issued Covid certificate QR codes at ports of entry into EU nations. © Valerio Rosati | Dreamstime.com Swiss digital Covid certificates are expected to work in the EU by Friday 9 July 2021 or next Monday. According to RTS, a commission, composed...

Switzerland has a mechanism that automatically increases taxes on fossil fuels if emission reduction targets are not met. And the small reduction in emissions in 2020 is not enough to avoid triggering a CO2 tax rise in 2022. © Jean-michel Feinen | Dreamstime.comData published this week by the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN) confirms the slow progress in reducing emissions in Switzerland. Emissions from heating oil and gas did not fall enough in 2020 to avoid triggering a rise in...

On 8 July 2021, the Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) published unemployment figures for June 2021. © Fizkes | Dreamstime.comBy the end of June 2021, there were close to 132,000 people registered as unemployed across Switzerland, 11,000 fewer than at the end of May 2021, bringing Switzerland’s overall unemployment rate down from 3.1% to 2.8%. Youth employment dropped particularly sharply compared to a year earlier. Unemployment among this age group (15-24) was down 32% year on...

In Switzerland, 20% of people over 80 have not been vaccinated against Covid-19 at a time when the fast spreading Delta variant is gaining ground, said Alain Berset, Switzerland’s health minister, in an interview with the NZZ reported RTS. © Arne9001 | Dreamstime.com Berset said he’s concerned that too many people do not want to get vaccinated. But in rest homes we have a worse problem, he said. A considerable portion of staff working in rest homes or offering home...

The longer term effects of Covid-19 can take many forms and there are numerous definitions of the disease. A study undertaken by HUG and UNIGE in Geneva, published on 6 July 2021, found that 39% of a group of Covid-19 patients still had symptoms after 7 months. © Wavebreakmedia Ltd | Dreamstime.com Of the 629 participants in the study who completed the interviews, 410 completed the follow-up at 7 to 9 months after a COVID-19 diagnosis in early 2020. Of this group,...