Swiss army on standby to help beleaguered hospitals

The Swiss army was deployed twice last year to assist hospitals during the pandemic. Keystone / Laurent Gillieron

Up to 2,500 military personnel have been put on alert to support the struggling Swiss healthcare system should the new pandemic wave intensify further.

The government on Tuesday put the army on standby for the first time this year. The military was deployed twice in 2020 to support the health service.

The cantons of Jura, Neuchâtel and Valais have already asked for army support, but deployment will only be possible with parliamentary permission and if cantons can show they have exhausted all other possibilities, including the help of charities.

Until the end of March next year, the army could help treat patients in hospitals, provide vaccine support, transport services and equipment, such as ventilators.

Some hospitals have run out of intensive care beds, health officials said on Tuesday. Urs Karrer, vice-president of the federal Covid-19 science taskforce, warned that the pressure on intensive care units could reach critical levels by the end of this year. “We need to see a trend reversal quickly,” he said.

Some 9,571 new infections were reported on Tuesday, with 1,563 hospitalisations and 264 patients in intensive care. The numbers have been increasing steadily for the last few weeks.

There are at present no reliable figures about the spread of the new Omicron Covid-19 variant in Switzerland.

Despite continuous appeals by the government and health authorities, only 66% of the population has been fully vaccinated. This is one of the lowest rates in Europe.

Switzerland has opted against another lockdown, unlike other countries such as Austria. However, the authorities have demanded that people wear masks in all public spaces, work from home when possible and have ramped up restrictions for unvaccinated people.

On Tuesday, Karrer became the latest health official to warn that further measures may be required to keep the latest pandemic wave under control.

“From a scientific point of view, we have justifiable doubts that the [latest] measures will be able to lower the R-value [rate of infections],” he said.