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There are still between 500 and 700 new Covid 19 cases per day in Switzerland. However, the contagion trend continues to point downward. “That’s the good news,” Daniel Koch, a delegate from the Federal Health Office for Covid-19, told the media on Saturday.
“We are on the mountain if it is the last mountain,” Daniel Koch, delegate of the Federal Office of Health for Covid-19, said on Easter Saturday to the media in Bern. But it should be clear to everyone that now it is about resisting. Strolling along the lake shore is still a taboo. (Lake of Geneva)
(sda)
“We are on the mountain if it is the last mountain,” said Koch in Bern. There may always be an increase again. But it looks good right now. There is a stabilization and a trend in the right direction.
But it should be clear to everyone that it is now a matter of perseverance, Koch said. There are still several dozen deaths a day. The disease should not be underestimated. According to the Federal Office of Public Health (BAG), there were 24,900 laboratory-confirmed cases of infection on Saturday, 592 more than the day before.
On Friday, the BAG reported an increase of 734 cases compared to the previous day. The incidence is 290 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, which is one of the highest in Europe. The extrapolation is based on information from laboratories and doctors.
The number of deaths related to coronavirus disease exceeded the 1000 mark: it increased to 1,057 shortly after 6 p.m. Saturday night, according to an analysis by the Keystone-SDA news agency based on data available on the cantons’ websites.
The BAG declared the death toll at 831. It refers to the reports that the laboratories and doctors presented until Saturday morning as part of the obligation to report. The BAG writes in its latest status report that the data could therefore differ from the canton case numbers. So far, more than 190,000 people have been screened for the corona virus, and 15 percent said the test was positive.
25 percent less productivity
There are dark forecasts in the economy. Development has deteriorated more sharply since mid-March than expected at the start of the crown crisis. According to Eric Scheidegger, head of the Economic Policy Directorate of the Secretary of State for Economic Affairs (Seco), a quarter of productivity has been lost so far.
In several sectors, such as the hospitality industry, the failure exceeds 80 percent, while retail and transportation have so far lost 50 to 60 percent of productivity, Scheidegger told the media. Therefore, the economic forecasts for March “are already outdated.”
The two current negative Seco scenarios are now assuming a more severe recession than previously thought, in which recovery “may also be delayed.” This would result in a drop in gross domestic product (GDP) of 7.1 or even 10.4 percent.
The last economic recession in Switzerland comparable to these scenarios occurred in 1974: at that time, Swiss GDP fell 6.7 percent in the wake of the oil crisis.
Two recession scenarios
In the Dry “V recession” scenario, a decline in GDP with a rapid recovery, the Swiss economy would rebound after less than 7 percent after 2021 with a massive increase in GDP of more than 8 percent.
The “L recession” scenario would be even more severe for the country, but after a massive downturn there would only be a weak recovery: the economy would shrink by around 10 percent in 2020 and would only rise 3 percent in 2021.
Army wants to reduce deployment
Meanwhile, the army wants to reduce its deployment starting next week. 5,000 members of the army have been called in for assistance in the fight against Covid-19. Only part of this group is really in action. Brigadier Raynald Droz responded to the accusation that the army had exaggerated the contingent.
It reminded the media of the situation six weeks ago. At that time, the wave from northern Italy hit Switzerland. They had no idea how that would work. The goal was to put out the fire, Droz said. “It looks like it was successful.” Holidays are granted after Easter, and according to Droz, members of the military could also be put on hold.
According to him, the army is currently deployed to fifty hospitals across Switzerland. The focus in German-speaking Switzerland is in the cantons of Solothurn, Lucerne and Basel-Landschaft.
Fly patients even in bad weather
Rega can now transport patients from the Canton of Ticino through the Gotthard to the cantons of German-speaking Switzerland, even when visibility is poor, if Ticino hospitals do not have the capacity for them.
The Federal Civil Aviation Office (Bazl) issued the corresponding exemptions for instrument flight procedures in late March, the Swiss Air Rescue Service (Rega) announced on Saturday. They refer, for example, to the arrival and departure to and from Agno airports near Lugano and Locarno.
A total of 74 Covid-19 patients have been transported in Rega helicopters from March 11 to Saturday. In most cases, they were transferred from one hospital to another. Two out of three patients to be transferred were artificially ventilated using mobile devices.
Rega’s teams were also deployed in neighboring countries. For example, Rega took over the transportation of Covid 19 patients from France to German hospitals.
