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- Mutated variants of the coronavirus continue to spread in Switzerland.
- The Federal Office of Public Health (BAG) learned of 674 cases on Friday.
- There were 582 on Thursday and 479 on Wednesday.
Since it first appeared in October in the canton of Vaud, 336 people have been infected with the British B1.1.7 (or 501Y.V1) mutation. The BAG announced this at the request of the Keystone-SDA agency.
The highest number of cases of the British mutation was registered in the canton of Bern with 88, followed by the canton of Geneva with 73 and Vaud with 51.
Fewer cases of the South African variant
The South African variant B1.351 (501Y.V2) could be assigned to 13 cases. Additionally, the BAG counted 325 virus infections with an unexplained mutation line. Most of the cases occurred in the canton of Graubünden with 65, in the canton of Geneva with 51, in the canton of Zurich with 50 and in the canton of Ticino with 43.
The BAG notes that this information is “not representative” and only “should be used as descriptive information.” Especially in cantons where little or no material was ordered, the figures would be grossly underestimated.
The immune response is no longer as fast
Tanja Stadler, a biostatistician at ETH Zurich, said on Monday on the “Puls” program that the number of cases with the new variant of the British virus is doubling every week. “At the moment, however, we can see that hospitalizations and deaths are decreasing. That is still very fragile in Switzerland. We hope to climb a little more slowly with the new variant. “
But the South African and especially the Brazilian version are cause for concern, explains Stadler. All three variants were created independently of each other. “But in the case of the Brazilian variant, it is assumed that the virus” tricked “the human immune system to some extent and that the immune response no longer reacts as well.”
