Switzerland: a critical situation and slightly restrictive anti-Covid measures
In Geneva, restaurants reopened on December 10.
They will be able to remain open after 7 p.m. in the cantons where the virus circulates less.
REUTERS - STAFF
Text by: RFI Follow
4 min
When it comes to the fight against Covid, the good students of yesterday are not always those of today.
In the spring, Switzerland was among the European countries that fared the best.
Today, the country has one of the worst records on the continent.
In recent days, contamination has even been on the rise without the government really tightening the screw.
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With our correspondent in Geneva,
Jérémie Lanche
A step forward, a step back: that's a bit like Swiss strategy during the second wave.
The authorities had however warned that they were going to crack down before finally announcing a series of variable geometry restrictions.
For example, shops, restaurants and bars must close after 7 p.m.
But they can remain open in the cantons where the virus circulates less.
The Minister of Health, Alain Berset, is worried about a certain relaxation in the barrier gestures.
But he refutes the idea that Switzerland is lax.
“
In March, in April, everyone applauded the health workers and now that the health workers are suffering a lot more than they did then, what seems more important is to run to restaurants or in stores
, he said.
You really have to be careful.
And we take all these decisions so that we never find ourselves facing a wall where there are no more possibilities available to us.
"
►
To read also: Covid-19: in Geneva, an explosion of hospitalizations of an unprecedented scale
The paradox is that Switzerland is both one of the European countries with the worst indicators and also one of those where the measures are the least restrictive.
The reason lies partly in the Swiss federalist system.
According to economists from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, countries with a federal system are doing better in the face of the pandemic.
This is the case of Germany, which has four times less contamination than Switzerland.
With the difference that in Switzerland, the cooperation between the federal government and the cantons looks more like a competition where each one passes the buck of the
management of the epidemic.
►
To read also: Skiing in the time of the Covid-19 is possible provided you live in Switzerland
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