Health experts cautious about ‘stable’ Covid situation

There is increasing concern about pressure on hospital intensive care beds amid rising cases of the Delta variant. Keystone / Gaetan Bally

Experts say the number of new Covid-19 cases in Switzerland has stagnated at a high level while the situation in hospitals remains tense. 

Virginie Masserey of the Federal Office for Public Health said there were at total of 287 Covid patients in intensive care on Tuesday. 

She said 90% of all Covid-related hospital admissions were non-vaccinated people, notably patients aged between 30 and 50. Masserey also said that Switzerland currently had the second highest Covid incidence rate per 100,000 people in Europe behind Britain. 

Andreas Stettbacher, government delegate coordinating the use of medical services, said 84% of all fully certified beds in intensive care units were occupied, nearly half of them by Covid patients. He said the latest data from hospitals and cantonal authorities showed an increasingly difficult situation. 

The comments come ahead of decisions by the government on Wednesday about possible new measures to contain the spread of the virus. Speculation is rife that it might extend the use of the Covid certificate, making this certificate necessary to access restaurants and smaller cultural and sports events. 

The right-wing Swiss People’s Party has already said that such a tightening of the rules was “unacceptable” on Swiss territory and that the government should instead set up border checks. 

Last week, the government postponed a decision saying it was difficult to foresee how quickly the latest wave of infections might increase.