By the numbers: carnival and erectile stimulants

A cloud of confetti at the start of the Lucerne carnival on Thursday Keystone

Almost every article published by swissinfo.ch contains a percentage, an age, an amount of money or some other figure. Here’s a round-up of the most interesting statistics to appear in the past week’s stories.

Monday

5

The number of F/A-18 Hornet fighter jets belonging to the Swiss Air Force that had to be grounded after cracks were discovered.

Tuesday

40

The distance from Earth in lightyears of the star TRAPPIST-1. One of the star’s seven exoplanets is more similar to our planet than any other that has yet been found. 

Wednesday

800,000

Swiss telecom company Swisscom revealed that 800,000 of its clients had been victims of a data breach in autumn 2017. “Unknown parties” had got their hands on “non-sensitive” information like names, addresses, phone numbers and dates of birth, it said. 

Thursday

5,300,000

Don’t ask who worked this out, but this is the number of bits of confetti which will need to be picked up off the pavements of Lucerne following the start of the carnival season.

Friday

1,060

The Federal Customs Administration seized 1,060 shipments of illegally imported medicines in 2017. Erectile stimulants remain at the top of the list of illegally imported substances.