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Switzerland considers Covid certificates for restaurants as vaccination rates slow

Helena Bachmann
Helena Bachmann - [email protected]
Switzerland considers Covid certificates for restaurants as vaccination rates slow
(FILES) In this file photo taken on April 22, 202,1 Pharmacist Kathie McDonough reconstitutes the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine as she fills syringes Worcester, Massachusetts. - The US is donating doses of Covid-19 vaccine to Georgia and Tajikistan, a White House official said on July 22, 2021,. Tajikistan on July 25 will receive 1.5 million doses of the Moderna shot via the international vaccine distribution system known as Covax, while Georgia will get 500,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine July 24 in a bilateral donation, the official told AFP. (Photo by Joseph Prezioso / AFP)

In April, the Swiss government released its three-phase "normalisation strategy" to end all coronavirus restrictions by the end of summer. However, the implementation of the final phase is now in doubt.

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The three phases of the Federal Council’s strategy outline how, and under what conditions, the gradual easing of all measures will take place.

The success of each phase is to be determined by the progress of the vaccination campaign.

Under the plan, the final, “normalisation”, stage should be in place from the end of July, but that is not likely to happen, according to the analysis by the Tages-Anzeiger newspaper.

The reason is that the goal the authorities established for vaccinations has not yet been met.

While early government predictions estimated that “full vaccination of the adult population (two doses) will be completed by the end of July 2021”, this benchmark has not been reached.

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As of July 27th, just over 47 percent of Switzerland’s residents have received both shots — well below the 60-percent minimum set by the Federal Council.

And the overall pace of vaccinations has slowed down considerably in the past weeks as many people left for summer holidays.

What is the current epidemiological situation?

With the rapid-spreading, highly contagious Delta variant now accounting for over 97 percent of all cases in Switzerland, the number of infections has more than quadrupled since the beginning of July, primarily among the unvaccinated people.

However, for the government, the determining factor is the number of Covid-related hospitalisations. At this point, it is still well below the threshold of 120 hospital admissions per day that the Federal Council has set for tightening of rules.

Also, the number of deaths from coronavirus complications is extremely low.

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What is going to happen now?

“If the epidemic were to grow stronger and threaten to overload the health system, the Federal Council reserves the right to maintain or reintroduce certain measures for a certain period of time”, the government said.

However, even though the conditions for lifting of all remaining coronavirus restrictions have not been met, there are no signs of an imminent tightening.

But if the situation deteriorates so much that there is a risk of the health system being overloaded, one of the first measures would be to implement the certificate requirement”, Tages-Anzeiger said.

This means that the Covid Certificate, also known as health pass, would have to be shown to access restaurants and other public places.

READ MORE: UPDATED: How to get Switzerland’s Covid-19 health pass

This step would be taken if the vaccination rate stagnates and hospitals are on the verge of overcrowding.

Epidemiologist Christian Althaus told the newspaper that the certificate requirement would be “a milder measure than renewed closings”.

This is in line with what the government is planning to do.

“The Federal Council reserves the right to maintain or reintroduce certain measures for a certain time, such as the obligation to wear a mask, the respect of distances or the limitation of capacities”, authorities said.

These measures, however, would be enforced only for people who don’t have the Covid certificate.

READ MORE: Why Switzerland is not considering new measures despite rising Covid case numbers

 

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