Today in Switzerland: A round-up of the latest news on Tuesday
Find out what's going on today in Switzerland with The Local's short roundup of the news.
Hundreds of thousands of Swiss Covid certificates expire today
As the validity of Switzerland’s Covid certificate is being reduced from 365 to 270 days to comply with the EU rules, several hundred thousand people will find themselves without a certificate starting on February 1st.
While the new measure pertains to all certificate holders, the most affected will be those who received their second dose of vaccine before May 7th, 2021 and who have not had a booster shot.
Their certificates will be re-activated only if a third dose is administered.
READ MORE: Switzerland: ‘Hundreds of thousands’ of Covid certificates to expire on Tuesday
Swiss passport granted primarily to highly qualified people
This trend can be seen across Switzerland, according to Walter Leimgruber, head of the Federal Migration Commission.
“Naturalisation procedure has become easier for highly qualified people, while the hurdles are now higher than they used to be for the less educated”, he said in an interview with SRF public broadcaster.
Leimgruber added that this way of granting citizenships “leads to a two-class society. Certain immigrants have found that citizenship remains unattainable and they seem unwelcome. The result is resignation and indifference to issues that we as a society in this country have to deal with together".
Here’s how to avoid paying a 200-franc fine
Starting today, motorists must have a motorway sticker affixed to the windshield of their car.
If caught driving on a motorway without the sticker, they will be slapped with a 200-franc fine.
The sticker is valid until January 31, 2023 and can be purchased for 40 francs at petrol stations and post offices throughout Switzerland, or online.
New motorway sticker. Photo: Swiss government
READ MORE: Everything that changes in February 2022 in Switzerland
Covid sparks interest in health professions
Swiss universities report that since the pandemic began, more students are interested in professions related to infectious diseases, especially in the field of virology and epidemiology.
At the University of Zurich, for instance, the number of students in virology courses has grown from 44 in 2018 to 91 in 2021.
The same trend is observed at the University of Basel, which received more requests for the master's degree in epidemiology in 2021 than in previous years.
New finding: a third of Covid patients in Geneva were infected in hospital
The University Hospitals of Geneva (HUG), the largest medical facility in Switzerland, admitted 564 patients to their Covid units in the first three weeks of January.
But 32 percent of these people were infected with Omicron while in the in hospital.
This is a relatively new phenomenon. According to HUG’s own data, in the fall of 2020, only 10 to 12 percent of cases had a nosocomial origin — infections that were not present during admission.
“This situation reflects the very high contagiousness of the [Omicron] variant”, said HUG spokesperson Antoine de Saussure.
Andreas Widmer, president of Swissnoso, the National Center for the Prevention of Infections, pointed out that HUG doesn’t necessarily have a higher proportion of nosocomial infections than other health facilities, but the hospital has “the most advanced monitoring system in Switzerland”, which may explain why so many cases are detected there.
If you have any questions about life in Switzerland, ideas for articles or news tips for The Local, please get in touch with us at [email protected]
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Hundreds of thousands of Swiss Covid certificates expire today
As the validity of Switzerland’s Covid certificate is being reduced from 365 to 270 days to comply with the EU rules, several hundred thousand people will find themselves without a certificate starting on February 1st.
While the new measure pertains to all certificate holders, the most affected will be those who received their second dose of vaccine before May 7th, 2021 and who have not had a booster shot.
Their certificates will be re-activated only if a third dose is administered.
READ MORE: Switzerland: ‘Hundreds of thousands’ of Covid certificates to expire on Tuesday
Swiss passport granted primarily to highly qualified people
This trend can be seen across Switzerland, according to Walter Leimgruber, head of the Federal Migration Commission.
“Naturalisation procedure has become easier for highly qualified people, while the hurdles are now higher than they used to be for the less educated”, he said in an interview with SRF public broadcaster.
Leimgruber added that this way of granting citizenships “leads to a two-class society. Certain immigrants have found that citizenship remains unattainable and they seem unwelcome. The result is resignation and indifference to issues that we as a society in this country have to deal with together".
Here’s how to avoid paying a 200-franc fine
Starting today, motorists must have a motorway sticker affixed to the windshield of their car.
If caught driving on a motorway without the sticker, they will be slapped with a 200-franc fine.
The sticker is valid until January 31, 2023 and can be purchased for 40 francs at petrol stations and post offices throughout Switzerland, or online.
New motorway sticker. Photo: Swiss government
READ MORE: Everything that changes in February 2022 in Switzerland
Covid sparks interest in health professions
Swiss universities report that since the pandemic began, more students are interested in professions related to infectious diseases, especially in the field of virology and epidemiology.
At the University of Zurich, for instance, the number of students in virology courses has grown from 44 in 2018 to 91 in 2021.
The same trend is observed at the University of Basel, which received more requests for the master's degree in epidemiology in 2021 than in previous years.
New finding: a third of Covid patients in Geneva were infected in hospital
The University Hospitals of Geneva (HUG), the largest medical facility in Switzerland, admitted 564 patients to their Covid units in the first three weeks of January.
But 32 percent of these people were infected with Omicron while in the in hospital.
This is a relatively new phenomenon. According to HUG’s own data, in the fall of 2020, only 10 to 12 percent of cases had a nosocomial origin — infections that were not present during admission.
“This situation reflects the very high contagiousness of the [Omicron] variant”, said HUG spokesperson Antoine de Saussure.
Andreas Widmer, president of Swissnoso, the National Center for the Prevention of Infections, pointed out that HUG doesn’t necessarily have a higher proportion of nosocomial infections than other health facilities, but the hospital has “the most advanced monitoring system in Switzerland”, which may explain why so many cases are detected there.
If you have any questions about life in Switzerland, ideas for articles or news tips for The Local, please get in touch with us at [email protected]
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