Covid taskforce: ‘Switzerland must get out of the risk zone’
Martin Ackermann (left) urging the government to take further action
Keystone / Peter Schneider
The Swiss government’s Covid-19 scientific taskforce has called for an immediate reduction in the “sad” number of cases and for widespread testing of the population.
This content was published on
1 minute
Keystone-SDA/ts
Português
pt
Força-tarefa Covid apela ao governo para tirar a Suíça da zona de risco
“With 80 deaths a day, we rank seventh in the world. It is essential to get out of the risk zone and create a safety margin in case of further aggravating factors,” Martin Ackermann, the taskforce’s president, said at a press conference on Tuesday.
Everything must be done to halve the number of infections every two weeks, he said. In addition, the mutated virus variants must be contained quickly and in a targeted manner. To this end, Ackermann advocated broad-based tests in the regions.
More
More
Swiss impose entry ban for travellers from UK and South Africa
This content was published on
Switzerland has imposed a ten-day retrospective quarantine and general entry ban on visitors from the UK and South Africa.
As additional measures Ackermann again mentioned an “extended home office” and postponing the return to school until January 11. This should prevent infections picked up during the holidays from being dragged into schools. Some cantons have already announced this.
Based on random samples, the taskforce assumes that the spread in Switzerland of the highly contagious virus variants from Britain and South Africa is currently probably less than 1%. “However, a look at London shows how quickly these highly contagious variants can spread. There, for example, the number of hospitalisations doubled within a week,” Ackermann said.
On Tuesday the Federal Office of Public Health announced 4,197 new Covid-19 infections in Switzerland in the past 24 hours and 131 deaths.
More
More
Coronavirus: the situation in Switzerland
This content was published on
An overview of the latest Covid-related information in the Alpine nation.
Should raw milk sales be banned or should consumers decide?
Swiss food regulations do not allow raw milk to be sold for direct consumption. However, a loophole allows 400 raw milk vending machines to do just that.
AI can reduce the number of animals needed for research
This content was published on
Swiss researchers have developed a new, AI-supported method that analyses the behaviour of mice in the laboratory more efficiently.
Geneva Conventions conference on Middle East scheduled for March 2025
This content was published on
The conference on the Middle East of the 196 States party to the Geneva Conventions, organised by Switzerland, will take place in Geneva in March.
Swiss university graduates are popular hires worldwide
This content was published on
Graduates of Swiss universities are popular with international employers, according to the Global Employability University Rankings.
French cross-border workers in Switzerland fear ‘discriminatory’ unemployment reform
This content was published on
In the French region around Geneva, cross-border workers are protesting proposals to cut unemployment benefits for those working in Switzerland.
European scientists call for continent-wide Covid approach
This content was published on
Several Swiss scientists have also signed the appeal calling for European coordination to avoid a chaos of different measures undermining each other.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.