Tag Archives: Editor’s Choice

Despite on and off closures of Swiss retailers last year, total 2020 retail sales figures rose by 0.1% compared to 2019. © Marlon Trottmann | Dreamstime.comSwitzerland’s backdrop of negative inflation, meant real total year-on-year retail sales rose by 0.8%. However, headline sales numbers masks significant variations by retail sector. While e-commerce (+14.1%), sales of technology (+13.8%) and food, drink and tobacco sales (+8.5%) rose substantially, retail sectors such as shoes and...

Verbier ski lift © Le News SARL According to a recent survey by Swiss media company Tamedia, 55% of the population is in favour of closing the country’s ski domains if the Covid-19 situation gets worse. reported the newspaper 20 Minutes. Ski resorts have been working hard to control crowds and police mask wearing. At Verbier, ‘Covid Angels’ are ever present, reminding people to pull masks up over noses and have relieved a number of the worst transgressors of their...

This week, Switzerland’s Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) reported 17,245 positive Covid-19 cases and 387 deaths. Over the seven days to 15 January 2021, the number daily cases reported in Switzerland averaged 2,464. This figure is significantly below the daily reported average leading up to Christmas. In the 7 days to 18 December 2020, the average daily number was around 4,300. Over the last 24 hours the results of 25,092 tests were reported, with test...

Switzerland’s Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) recently reported that 66,000 people in Switzerland had been vaccinated against the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes Covid-19. © Oxana Medvedeva | Dreamstime.com - Click to enlarge The number was communicated by Nora Kronig of the FOPH during a press conference in Bern on Thursday 14 January 2020. The 66,000 is likely to be lower than the actual number because of delays in the flow of information from cantonal health...

During 2020, average annual inflation was –0.7%, according to Switzerland’s Federal Statistical Office (FSO). © Dmitri Maruta | Dreamstime.comIn December 2020, Switzerland’s consumer price index (CPI) fell by 0.1% compared with November 2020. Compared to December 2019, prices in December 2020 were 0.8% lower. Annual inflation reached -0.7% across the full year. The main drivers of a falling CPI were lower travel prices and fuel costs. The price declines on these items were more...

Tension between Switzerland’s scientists and politicians is rising, according to RTS. Bern_© Petr Pohudka _ Dreamstime.com - Click to enlarge On Saturday, Christian Althaus, an epidemiologist working for the Swiss National COVID-19 Science Task Force, Switzerland’s scientific Covid advisory team, announced his resignation and voiced his frustration on Twitter. “One of the reasons why I left the scientific task force this week. Politicians must finally learn to face...

Recent research based on information from 3,762 Long Covid sufferers shows most still have symptoms after 7 months. © Tero Vesalainen | Dreamstime.com - Click to enlarge The study uses patient-driven research and is based on a survey created by a team of patients with COVID-19 who are members of the Body Politic online COVID-19 support group. The group conducted its first survey in April 2020 and issued a subsequent report in May 2020. Participants were not randomly...

© Pattanaphong Khuankaew | Dreamstime.com On 12 January 2021, Swissmedic, the Swiss agency for the authorisation and supervision of pharmaceutical products, approved a second vaccination against the SARS-CoV-2 virus for the Swiss market. The vaccine from Moderna, of which the federal government has ordered around 7.5 million doses, has been approved for adults from age 18. Over the coming days a delivery of 200,000 doses will be made to Switzerland’s military, which...

The number of Covid cases went down significantly in Switzerland during spring as a result of schools closing, according to a study by ETH Zurich, reported RTS. School closed ©Andrey Zhuravlev -Dreamstime.com - Click to enlarge Researchers at the university analysed anonymised mobile phone data of 1.5 billion movements of the Swiss population between 10 February and 26 April 2020. They used this data to calculate how much certain measures reduced mobility and...

Today, figures on Swiss unemployment at the end of 2020 were published. © Tero Vesalainen | Dreamstime.comAt the end of December 2020, there were 163,545 people registered as unemployed in Switzerland, a figure 39.5% higher than at the end of 2019. At 31 December 2020, the number of job seekers was 260,318, a number 34.9% above the same figure at the end of 2019. The last time the number of job seekers was close to this high in Switzerland was at the end of February 1997, when it...