Tag Archives: Editor’s Choice

Consumer sentiment in Switzerland in April 2020 reached a historic low. The coronavirus has dampened expectations for general economic development and employment and the population is bracing itself for tough financial times, according to the survey. © Michael Müller | Dreamstime.comSwiss consumer sentiment fell from −9 points in January 2020 to −39 points in April 2020, a level well below the level seen in the 2008-2009 financial crisis. The only other time consumer sentiment was...

Restaurants in Switzerland will be able to reopen on Monday 11 May 2020. But they’ll need to follow strict rules that were published this week. © Syda Productions | Dreamstime.comThe seven pages of detailed restaurant rules will make dining in the time of Covid-19 quite different to what we’re accustomed to. Rules put together by the industry and Switzerland’s federal government will require diners to wash their hands as they enter restaurants and provide their names and phone...

The unemployment rate in Switzerland rose to 3.3% in April 2020, up from 2.9% the month before, a rise of nearly 14%. © Spacedrone808 | Dreamstime.comBy 30 April 2020, there were 153,413 people registered as unemployed at Switzerland’s regional placement offices. Young workers were the hardest hit. Unemployment among those aged 15 to 24 rose by 18.1% compared to March 2020 and by 61.3% compared to April 2019. By the end of April 2020 there were 17,191 people in this age group out of...

© Damir Senčar | Dreamstime.com In Switzerland, around 3% of medical staff have been infected with Covid-19, based on data covering the period up until Easter, according to Switzerland’s Federal Office of Public Health. The highest rates of infection were among staff in French- and Italian-speaking Switzerland, regions with Switzerland’s highest infection rates. The low rate suggests the Swiss health system has the required material and equipment to protect staff,...

© Jan Gajdosik | Dreamstime.com On 29 April 2020, Switzerland’s government announced plans to allow schools and other establishments to reopen on Monday 11 May 2020. From 11 May 2020, shops, restaurants, markets, museums, libraries, primary and lower secondary schools and sports training centres will be allowed to reopen. In addition, public transport will operate according to the standard timetable, announced the government. The easing is conditional on the...

On 29 April 2020, Switzerland’s government announced plans to allow schools and other establishments to reopen on Monday 11 May 2020. © Jan Gajdosik | Dreamstime.comFrom 11 May 2020, shops, restaurants, markets, museums, libraries, primary and lower secondary schools and sports training centres will be allowed to reopen. In addition, public transport will operate according to the standard timetable, announced the government. The easing is conditional on the businesses and institutions...

A team of economic experts working for the Swiss government forecasts a 6.7% fall in GDP and unemployment to rise to 3.9% in Switzerland in 2020. © Marekusz | Dreamstime.comIf these predictions prove right, it will be the biggest slump in economic activity since 1975. The Covid-19 outbreak has forced many companies in hospitality, retail, culture and leisure to restrict or completely suspend their business activities, triggering an abrupt fall in output and private consumer spending,...

© Kukotaekaterina | Dreamstime.com A study done by researchers at Geneva’s HUG hospital suggests a Covid-19 infection rate of 5.5% across the canton of Geneva. Antibody blood tests, run on a randomly selected sample of the canton’s population, suggest around 27,000 might have been infected by the virus, a number 5.7 times the official count of 4,733 recorded on 24 April 2020. Geneva is Switzerland’s worst hit canton. By 24 April 2020, close to 1% (0.94%) of the...

 © Miriam Doerr | Dreamstime.com As Switzerland moves towards easing Covid-19 social restrictions, some fear the virus will get away again. A key part of containing the spread is testing. One way to evaluate how comprehensive testing is is to look at positivity, the percentage of tests that are positive. Imagine the population were a jar of jelly beans, the testing a scoop, and the red jelly beans in the scoop positives. Positivity would be the percentage of red...

© Absolut_photos | Dreamstime.com Switzerland’s Covid-19 death rate has been lower than much of the rest of Europe. A lower infection rate among older people appears to be one reason. The rates of deaths among those either recovering or dying have been particularly high in Belgium (40%), France (34%) and Italy (31%). In other countries such as Austria (4%), Germany (5%) and Switzerland (7%) they have been much lower. There are many reasons for variations in these...