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The situation of the crown in the canton of Bern remains dire. Due to the mutated virus strains, there is a risk of an explosion in the number of cases in the coming weeks, SVP health director and district president Pierre Alain Schnegg (58) said on Friday.
Despite the current drop in crown numbers, the canton of Bern wants to test even more intensively. A first massive test took place after the Christmas holidays in the Jura in Bern. The tests were carried out on a voluntary basis at the St. Imier vocational school. Tests were carried out on students from various care professions, in order to protect people who are in social and health facilities from the virus.
“There is an intensive search for contact persons”
The first test ended on Thursday. None of the 184 participating students tested positive. The participation rate was 63 percent. The second test will take place from January 18.
Canton doctor Linda Nartey added 76 cases with mutated virus strains throughout the canton. The biggest access point is the Wengen winter sports resort. The infections are attributed to a British tourist who failed to comply with the entry quarantine. “There is an intensive search for contact persons,” says Nartey. As well as for contacts of contacts that should also go into quarantine.
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«Concept for the drawer»
SP Chief Financial Officer Christoph Ammann (52) welcomed the relaxation and simplification of the Covid hardship case decided by the federal government. However, the rules were changed while the game was running.
Therefore, the canton has developed its own concept of difficulty “for the drawer,” according to Ammann. This means that the canton of Bern has had to restart its emergency program since Wednesday. This has happened and the amended regulation will go into effect on Monday.
However, this also means that applications submitted since the beginning of January cannot be processed. Therefore, interested companies must submit a new application. But he says it will be easier this time, Ammann said.
Following the Federal Council’s decisions, the canton of Bern suspended its original program of measures on Wednesday. The new program will now start as soon as possible. Applications can be submitted starting January 25, as explained by Ammann. You must receive treatment within ten days.
Businesses that have been officially closed for at least 40 calendar days since early November 2020 are now automatically considered hardship cases. The canton does not provide evidence of the threat to its existence, but reserves the right to claim contributions retroactively if there is excessive coverage.
Clear expectations towards the federal government
How quickly the digital solution can be adapted to register applications is still open, according to Ammann. The Berne government expects around 6,000 applications due to difficulties.
At the moment, it is not foreseeable to what extent the available credit line will be sufficient to support all eligible companies, according to Ammann. It assumes that the budgeted funds will hardly be sufficient.
Therefore, the government stresses that the Federal Council will make the reserves of 750 million Swiss francs approved by the Federal Parliament available to the cantons without them having to co-finance the additional tranche. “That clearly corresponds to the expectations of the cantons,” Ammann emphasized.
