© 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...
Read More »Swiss offers staff choice between pay cuts or job cuts
Swiss, Switzerland’s flag airline, which is part of the Lufthansa group, has asked employees to accept a 15% pay cut. If they reject this offer the airline has said 1,425 jobs will be at risk, 15% of the workforce, according to a report by the newspaper Sonntags Zeitung. © Nui7711 | Dreamstime.com“Our goal is to get through the crisis with as many employees as possible.” said Marco Lipp, spokesperson for the airline. “This will only be possible if substantial reductions in staff costs can...
Read More »Coronavirus: no quarantine for people entering Switzerland from border regions
© Frankposz | Dreamstime.com On 11 September 2020, Switzerland’s federal government announced that people entering Switzerland after spending time in regions next to the country’s national borders will be exempted from mandatory quarantine requirements should those regions end up with high rates of infection. Cross-border worker are already exempted from quarantine requirements. The announcement marks a significant shift away from the current system which requires...
Read More »Fribourg hospital under pressure after Covid-19 outbreak
The town of Siviriez – source Wikipedia According to RTS, a branch of the HFR hospital in the Swiss canton of Fribourg has reached full capacity after a rise in Covid-19 patients following an outbreak in a local nursing home. The rise in hospital admissions follows an outbreak of Covid-19 in a nursing home in the region. Nine new patients have been admitted to the hospital since Wednesday. HFR Riaz, near the town of Bulle, is one of five HFR sites making up the...
Read More »Switzerland adds 10 more nations to its compulsory quarantine list
© Denis Linine | Dreamstime.com On 7 September 2020, Switzerland added to its list of quarantine countries. People entering Switzerland from 55 nations must now quarantine for 10 days. On 7 September 2020, 10 nations were added to the list. These include Croatia, French Polynesia, Guyana, Lebanon, Libya, Paraguay, San Marino, Trinidad and Tobago, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates. From 7 September 2020, anyone who has spent time in these countries over the 14 days prior...
Read More »Switzerland ranked 4th for economic come back, according to study
A report published this week places Switzerland fourth on a list of countries best positioned to make an economic rebound after the coronavirus downturn. © Octavian Lazar | Dreamstime.comThe analysis looks at overall health resilience, pre-existing structural strengths and weaknesses in 122 countries. The top four nations are Finland, Norway, Germany and Switzerland. These countries combine world class governance with high levels of social capital and high social resilience. They also...
Read More »Coronavirus: could masks explain Switzerland’s sharply declining death rate?
© Tatiana Kozachenko | Dreamstime.com In Switzerland, over the three months following 31 May 2020, there have been 11,306 recorded cases of Covid-19 and 91 deaths, a case fatality rate (CFR) of 0.8%. However, up to this date there were 30,862 cases and 1,920 deaths, a CFR of 6.2%. Why has Switzerland’s CFR fallen so steeply? A number of factors could explain the decline. Testing The first is testing. Recorded case numbers before 1 June 2020 are not comparable to...
Read More »Coronavirus: Switzerland considers adding only parts of France to its quarantine list
With daily infection rates in France rising to levels not seen since its previous peak in April 2020, the Swiss government is considering modifying its quarantine risk list system to include certain French regions rather than the whole country. © Eq Roy | Dreamstime.comThe idea is being discussed as a potential way to avoid paralysing parts of Switzerland that rely on large daily flows of cross-border workers, the cantons of Geneva, Vaud and Basel-City in particular. Geneva and France...
Read More »Coronavirus: no significant slowdown in new cases in Switzerland
© Yulan | Dreamstime.com In the seven days to 10 July 2020, the reported number of new SARS-CoV-2 infections recorded in Switzerland was 589, a similar number to the week before, when 615 new cases were recorded. Over the weeks prior to this there were 251 and 172 new cases, according to worldinfometer.com. Much of the recent rise in infections is due to clusters of infections found among people going to nightclubs and bars. Late last week Switzerland’s Covid-19...
Read More »Swiss retail sales up 30% in May after COVID-19 measures eased
Recently published figures show a overall jump of 30.2% in retail sales in May 2020 compared to April 2020. © Nora Tarvus | Dreamstime.comMay’s rise of 30.2% follows falls of 6.5% in March and 13.7% in April. However not all retail sectors experienced the same rise in May sales. Food, drink and tobacco sales rose 3.4% and fuel sales were up 6.3% month on month. Clothing and shoe sales were up a whopping 433.5% compared to April. Clothing and shoe sales fell 55.4% and 61.0% in March...
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