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So now after all: After the Swiss government has resisted for weeks and months against imposing a nationwide corona lockdown, it now seems to buckle.

On Friday, the Federal Council will most likely adopt tougher precautionary measures to stop the virus from spreading in the country.

This assumption goes back to a press conference that Federal President Simonetta Sommaruga and Health Minister Alain Berset held this week to prepare the population for the tightening of the measures.

That should have bought the government enough time to discuss the new rules with the governments of the cantons.

If the measures are now decided roughly as they were announced at the conference, this means the temporary end of the much discussed Swiss middle ground.

So far, Switzerland, as the last country in Europe, has not imposed any strict, nationwide corona measures, but appealed to the citizens' personal responsibility and left the decision to the cantons to issue local lockdowns depending on the infection situation and the stability of the health system - or not to to do.

Change of strategy: health before economy

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After Switzerland brought the virus under control through a hard lockdown in the first Corona wave in spring, the Federal Council launched a different strategy for the second wave, which Finance Minister Ueli Maurer defended around three weeks ago.

In an interview, he replied to the question of whether the pandemic had gotten out of hand in view of the high number of cases and deaths: "We deliberately took a certain risk because we weighed up the interests." Not only health is important, but also Economy must live.

Health apparently outweighs this consideration, as the statements from the press conference on Tuesday show.

Federal President Sommaruga said that the Federal Council had to take control of the issue again: “The last few days have shown that the strategy has to be adjusted and the federal government itself has to order additional measures.

The number of infections has been increasing exponentially lately. "

Health Minister Berset added that it was the first time that Switzerland found itself in this situation, in which the number of infections stagnated at a high level.

Indeed, the corona figures paint a disturbing picture: After the Swiss middle ground in the first half of November led to the number of new corona infections falling significantly, "Our World in Data" has been on since the end of November, according to the data website Plateau reached around 433 new cases per million inhabitants every day.

Most recently, the plateau rose again to 465 cases a day.

The situation is worse than in Germany

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For comparison: the number of infections in Germany has also been at the same level since the beginning of November.

However, with an average of 222 and most recently 233 new cases per day, they are almost half the level at which Switzerland is moving.

The number of daily corona deaths, which has been around eleven deaths per million inhabitants in Switzerland since mid-November - and thus roughly the same as in Italy - is correspondingly worrying.

In Germany, an average of 4.5 people per million inhabitants per day die from Corona.

Source: WORLD infographic

A look at the statistics of the occupancy rate of the intensive care beds is also cause for concern.

Most of the cantons are colored deep red on the official website - which indicates that the intensive capacities are almost fully utilized.

This alarming color had previously identified western Switzerland in particular as a source of infection in the second wave, but the rest of the country is now also badly affected.

Hard lockdown until January 20th?

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The new security precautions should free Switzerland from this situation and apply from Saturday until January 20.

They stipulate that restaurants and shops, markets and fitness centers close at 7 p.m. and remain completely closed on Sundays.

Private meetings are only allowed to take place with up to five people from two households.

The Christmas holidays, during which meetings with up to ten people are allowed, are excluded.

In addition, the new measures completely ban public and cultural events apart from church services and legislative meetings.

But that's not all: If the corona situation continues to worsen, the Federal Council will decide on further tightening from December 18, such as the complete closure of shops.

After all, Switzerland would still be in lockdown.

Federal President Sommaruga explains that this package should create "clarity and a certain degree of planning security" in order to protect the health of the population and "avert greater economic damage."

After the government announced the tightening, it was immediately and sharply criticized.

There was resistance, especially in western Switzerland, because here some cantons have been in a lockdown for weeks that is only just being rolled back.

The criticism of having to close the restaurants in the evening was correspondingly high.

It is still unclear whether the Federal Council will give the cantons some leeway in implementing the measures.

That will probably only be decided after the government meeting on Friday.

But it is already clear that Switzerland will abandon its easy middle ground once and for all.

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