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Debates about the Covid certificate rage on, with many worried about a “polarisation” of society. How much of this is reality and how much a result of media coverage? A new survey shows more public backing for the government’s Covid policy than might have been expected.

stefan blättler
Keystone / Peter Klaunzer

In the news: one attorney general, two Gotthard tunnels, three vaccines


  • Stefan Blättler is Switzerland’s new attorney general. After three failed attempts to find a successor to Michael Lauber, parliament today voted emphatically for the former head of Bern’s cantonal police force. The job, arguably the most powerful in the Swiss justice system, entails investigating offences against state security and major state interests, among other tasks. Blättler’s predecessor was forced to step down last year over his handling of a probe into FIFA.
  • A symbolic explosion on Wednesday inaugurated the latest building site under the Gotthard. This time, the project is a second car tunnel, the same length (16.9 kilometres) as the existing one, opened in 1980. The goal is to make travel under the mountain faster and safer. The second tunnel, approved by voters in a 2016 ballot, will cost CHF2.14 billion ($2.3 billion) and take eight years to build.
  • Switzerland has signed an agreement with Janssen, part of the Johnson & Johnson group, to buy 150,000 doses of its Covid-19 vaccine. From next week, the new shot will be available, albeit in limited numbers, alongside the existing Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna jabs. There is hope that the Janssen jab, based on a viral vector method that means one rather than two doses, will boost the country’s vaccination rate; a survey in July found 72% of unvaccinated were holding out due to fears about the mRNA technology used in the other two vaccines.
covid certificate
Keystone / Valentin Flauraud

Public support for the government’s Covid certificate rules has been “underestimated”


It’s the debate of the moment: the introduction of the Covid Certificate, and the question of whether testing should be free for the unvaccinated – so that they too can enjoy a restaurant and a night out now and then. While loud protestors have largely taken over the first question, and politicians have been wringing their hands and shifting positions on the second, the population (we’re told) is “divided” and “polarised” about all this. Is it?

Today, Tamedia newspapers (Tages-Anzeiger, Tribune de Genève, 20 Minuten, etc.) tried to give an answerExternal link. A “comprehensive” survey of almost 13,000 people found that, in fact, 67% back the government’s decision to introduce the certificate, and 63% are in favour of making unvaccinated pay for tests. Moreover, support for the government line is shared across most of the political spectrum, and it tends to increase with age, the papers write.

What does this mean? It’s good news for the government, especially before November’s public referendum on the Covid certificate; though it might come too late to influence the final decision on free testing this Friday. As for divisions, is there a perception-reality gap? A “large majority” of respondents underestimated the general level of backing for the current rules, while two-thirds feared a “polarisation” of society. Maybe if journalists laid off using the word “polarisation” so much…

virtual reality headset
Keystone / Jae C. Hong

The metaverse comes to Zurich


Not happy with having colonised the internet, Facebook – as you might have heard – is now taking aim at the metaverse. This “3D internet”, where users would interact virtually in the form of avatars, doesn’t fully exist yet: but Facebook CEO and chief metaverse voyager Mark Zuckerberg has said he wants to transition from being a “social media company” to becoming a “metaverse company” in the next five years.

What’s the link with digital tortoise Switzerland? According to the Neue Zürcher ZeitungExternal link, quoting a “well-informed source”, Facebook plans to soon almost double staff at its Zurich office, where engineers have been fine-tuning a virtual-reality headset built by subsidiary Oculus. The headset is notably at the centre of the “Horizon Workrooms” project, the paper writes – a virtual, “mixed reality” space that will allow you to “physically” attend meetings without ever leaving your house. Zuckerberg himself has said this “embodied internet” will be more real than the current experience of living through “small, glowing rectangles”. The physical world, or the “world of objects”, as the NZZ put it, was not contacted for comment.

alain berset television
Keystone / Jean-christophe Bott

Radio review – Berset, Berset, and Berset



Man of the moment, hero of the hour and villain of the plot Alain Berset can’t stay out of the news. Yesterday, on German-speaking Switzerland’s flagship evening radio show Echo der Zeit, an impressive three of the first five news itemsExternal link involved the fast-talking Freiburger. Even more impressively, each story was on a completely different topic: first, there was the “historic” drop in insurance premiums, announced by Health Minister Alain Berset; then the latest Covid vaccination news, with comments by Health Minister Alain Berset; and thirdly, the appointment of a special prosecutor to look into the amorous adventures of… Health Minister Alain Berset. Speculation that Health Minister Alain Berset is to take over from Granit Xhaka as captain of the Swiss football team is as yet unconfirmed.

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