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By Saturday, three cases with the new variant of the virus, presumably more contagious, had been known in Switzerland and Liechtenstein. Graubünden is also affected. The same is true for the canton of Zurich and Liechtenstein, as announced by the Federal Office of Public Health (BAG) at the request of the Keystone-SDA news agency.
At least two of the cases are people residing in the UK, where the mutated coronavirus first appeared. According to the “NZZ am Sonntag”, the person who tested positive for the new variant of the virus in the canton of Zurich is a Swiss who works in Great Britain and traveled home during the holidays.
The new variant increases the risk
For the federal task force, the urgency for strict measures is increasing in light of the new, more contagious variant of the virus. The new variant poses an additional risk for Switzerland, as its spread would make it more difficult to control the epidemic in Switzerland.
To prevent or slow down the spread in Switzerland, from the perspective of the working group, in addition to measures to reduce contact, an immediate expansion of cantonal testing and tracing capabilities and the constant implementation of isolation and quarantine regulations is necessary. . Efforts to identify groups and sources of infection are particularly important in the current situation.
But all known measures would also work against the new variant of the virus, the working group continues. For transmissions, contacts are needed and something can be actively done against them together, that is, reducing the contacts as much as possible.
The British have traveled home
The return journey of British tourists who were stranded in Switzerland and should have been quarantined instead of skiing began during the Christmas period. Two planes took off from Zurich on Thursday morning for London Heathrow. Other flights followed, also from Geneva. People from Great Britain who were stranded in Switzerland were able to return to their homeland thanks to an exemption.
Since BAG did not release any new numbers on new infections during the holiday period, nothing is known about the spread of the pandemic. According to the latest figures published on the evening of Christmas Eve, in 24 hours another 4,898 new infections were known. There were also 103 deaths and 193 hospital admissions.
Slight decrease in new infections
In week 51 (December 14-20), a total of 29,441 laboratory-confirmed cases were registered compared to 30,162 the previous week, according to the weekly epidemiological report published by the BAG on Thursday. The number of reported cases was down 2.4 percent compared to the previous week.
On Christmas Eve, the federal president-elect in 2021, Guy Parmelin, was also allowed to lift his quarantine, which he had to take after a visit to London. He remained symptom free. Parmelin went to London on December 14. There he had signed an agreement on mobility of service providers with Elizabeth Truss, Minister of International Trade. It was the second quarantine for the Minister of Economy.
Parmelin: other possible measures
In an interview with the “SonntagsZeitung”, Pamelin did not rule out more measures than the new variant of the virus might require. “We have to continue to monitor the situation and take additional measures if necessary,” he says.
Both the Economy Minister and Health Minister Alain Berset admitted mistakes in the fight against the pandemic in interviews during the holidays. The two members of the state government said the situation was probably underestimated in the summer.
Then one was overly optimistic, “when we thought we could reopen the major events in the fall,” Berset said on Swiss SRF television’s “Sternstunde Philosophie”. This was one of the biggest mistakes, (so / sda)
