Switzerland Today
Hello from Bern,
Here’s the latest news and stories from Switzerland in the holiday week edition of our daily briefing. This version is short and sweet as we wrap up the new year. Wishing you all the best from SWI swissinfo.ch.
In the News: No new Covid-19 measures and a warm start to the new year
- The Federal Council has decided not to update the current Covid-19 health measures in place and this despite a record number of cases registered in Switzerland. On Thursday, the country recorded an all-time high of 19,032 new cases. Twenty-three people died and 129 new Covid-19 patients are in hospital. However, the surge in new cases is not leading to more hospitalisations, Swiss health officials said. “Nonetheless we have a range of new measures ready and can activate them quickly should the health situation deteriorate,” the Council said today. Possible next steps would include closures of facilities, it added.
- Spring is here. Swiss media have highlighted the particularly warm temperatures for the season, which will rise as high as 15 degrees Celsius tomorrow. December could be a record month for Switzerland both in terms of rainfall and temperature, says MeteoSwissExternal link. This is bad news for ski resorts which have had to deal with the downpour often turning the snow to slush. That said, MeteoSwiss reassures us that more seasonal weather conditions will start the new year with a cold streak expected next week.
How one company is benefitting from Covid-19
As the country reels from the Omicron outbreak, it’s not all bad for some.
One company is reaping benefits: JDMT Medical Services AGExternal link. The company specializes in contract tracing, a sector whose success acutely follows the rise in Covid-19 contaminations.
In Pfäffikon, where the company is based, there are currently over 100 workplaces across two shifts a day, seven days a week. From January there will be 145 jobs, some of them around the clock.
Their initial mandate from Canton Zurich in spring 2020, was to call contacts of people infected with Covid-19. From initially calling five to ten infected people a day, the company was asked to contact 20. Today that figure has surged to above 1.000.
As a result, the canton re-negotiated new contracts with JDMT almost every month. At the beginning of September 2020, the government approved CHF3.7 million. In October 2021 the figure rose to CHF13.2 million.
“We see the storm front rolling towards us,” JDMT CEO Juchli told the NZZ. “If it stays that way, I expect about 2500 to 3000 cases per day for Zurich contact tracing, maybe 4000 at most.”
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