‘Elderly let down during pandemic’: Swiss health director

FOPH Director names biggest mistakes of the pandemic Keystone-SDA

Switzerland let down the elderly during the Covid pandemic, the country's health director admitted in an interview with in the Neue Zürcher Zeitung.

+Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox

“They are the people who were most vulnerable”, Anne Lévy, director of the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH), told the newspaper.

Too little attention was paid to those affected, for example when they wanted to see their relatives, while others demanded more protection. This showed that there was not one solution for everyone and that there was still room for improvement in this area of tension, said Lévy.

+ What did Europe learn from the Covid pandemic?

She conceded that the restrictions on young people could have been relaxed earlier. “We have always tried to maintain each measure only for as long as necessary. Even if we had to accept criticism for certain steps towards opening up, for example in schools,” said Lévy. “Overall, we have managed the pandemic well in Switzerland with our middle course.”

The revised Epidemics Act should create clearer responsibilities in future, strengthen the involvement of the cantons and parliament and give measures greater democratic legitimacy.

Coronavirus notifications from laboratories will only be sent digitally and fax notifications will no longer be accepted from 2028, said Lévy. In addition, the federal government should be able to procure medical supplies on a subsidiary basis in the event of shortages.

In terms of healthcare and personnel, Lévy referred to cantonal responsibility, while government incentives or the army pharmacy could help with medicines. The Federal Council is examining various models with the aim of strengthening security of supply.

Parliament will now discuss the bill. The organisation Mass-voll has already announced that it is preparing a referendum against the changes to the law. In their view, the Epidemics Act is a “pure instrument of power that undermines the separation of powers to the detriment of the people and the state”.

The movement had already forced three votes on the Covid-19 law. The people clearly voted in favour of the government and parliament’s course three times.

Translated from German by DeepL/mga

How we work

We select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools to translate them into English. A journalist then reviews the translation for clarity and accuracy before publication.  

Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles. The news stories we select have been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team from news agencies such as Bloomberg or Keystone.

If you have any questions about how we work, write to us at [e-mail]