Tag Archives: health

© JaCrispy | Dreamstime.com As Switzerland reopens, the details around how SARS-CoV-2 spreads becomes more relevant to everyday life. Matthias Egger, the head of Switzerland’s Covid-19 task force, stresses the importance of continuing to follow social distancing and hygiene rules. However, the Swiss government’s recommended rule of staying two metres away from the next person might not be enough if the next person is singing. Infection requires a minimum amount of...

Over the weekend, hundreds rallied against lockdown measures across Switzerland in the cities of Bern, Zurich, Basel and St. Gallen. © Ocskay Mark | Dreamstime.comAnti-lockdown protesters in these cities flouted rules introduced in mid-March banning public groups of more than five people, designed to reduce the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The protestors consider the rules in breach of their fundamental rights. In Bern and St. Gallen, dozens were stopped by the police and face...

A survey published on 7 May 2020, suggests only 36% of Swiss support the government’s calendar for reopening the country after the Covid-19 shutdown. © Hdesislava | Dreamstime.com23% think the plan to reopen is too slow, while 42% think it is fast or too fast. However, 60% said they had confidence in the government. The most controversial aspects of the plan were reopening schools and reopening restaurants, bars and nightclubs. 37% thought restaurants were opening too early, 29%...

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...

Maurer (left) has publicly voiced concern over the costs caused the economic lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic. (Keystone/Peter Klaunzer) Swiss Finance Minister Ueli Maurer wants the country’s central bank to contribute to the reduction of the debt caused by the coronavirus pandemic. “I suggest the Swiss National Bank spends the money from an annual surplus to reduce coronavirus-related debts,” he told the Neue Zürcher Zeitung newspaper on Wednesday. The central...

© 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...

© 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...