Switzerland announces timeline to end all Covid restrictions
Swiss authorities indicated that lifting of Covid-19 restrictions in the summer is a possibility, with all measures dropped by August. This is how it could be done.
This best-case scenario is based on the vaccine strategy, which the government says is achievable and under control.
Health Minister Alain Berset said at a press conference on Wednesday that Switzerland will receive 8.1 million doses of the already ordered vaccines from Pfizer / Biontech and Moderna between now and the end of July.
Nearly half a million residents have received both doses to date, and more will be vaccinated in the meantime with the doses already in stock.
That would mean 75 percent of the adult population will be immunised, Berset said.
READ MORE: Switzerland to introduce coronavirus a vaccine certificate ‘by summer’
All vulnerable people should be vaccinated by April 20th, and most others will have received their second shot by the end of June, authorities say.
“We have a good situation. Six months ago no one would have thought that the vaccination campaign would be so advanced”, Berset noted in an interview with SRF public broadcaster.
Virginie Masserey, head of the infection control section at the Federal Office of Public Health, said at the press conference on Wednesday that if no new virus mutations emerge in the meantime, “from August there will be enough people vaccinated so that the restrictive measures are no longer necessary”.
Keen for a vax? This tool shows when you will get vaccinated in Switzerland
Berset also said coronavirus measures could be dropped in the summer. "The goal is to go in the direction of normality," he noted.
However, some believe authorities are being overly optimistic in their predictions.
“The problem is that large deliveries could come all at once in the summer. I doubt that the cantons will be able to cope with these quantities immediately”, said National Councillor Marcel Dobler.
Another deputy, Jörg Mäder, pointed out that it is difficult to predict whether things will return to normal in summer. “But thanks to the vaccination, this goal is within reach”.
READ MORE : Covid-19 third wave: Which countries in Europe have the tightest restrictions?
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This best-case scenario is based on the vaccine strategy, which the government says is achievable and under control.
Health Minister Alain Berset said at a press conference on Wednesday that Switzerland will receive 8.1 million doses of the already ordered vaccines from Pfizer / Biontech and Moderna between now and the end of July.
Nearly half a million residents have received both doses to date, and more will be vaccinated in the meantime with the doses already in stock.
That would mean 75 percent of the adult population will be immunised, Berset said.
READ MORE: Switzerland to introduce coronavirus a vaccine certificate ‘by summer’
All vulnerable people should be vaccinated by April 20th, and most others will have received their second shot by the end of June, authorities say.
“We have a good situation. Six months ago no one would have thought that the vaccination campaign would be so advanced”, Berset noted in an interview with SRF public broadcaster.
Virginie Masserey, head of the infection control section at the Federal Office of Public Health, said at the press conference on Wednesday that if no new virus mutations emerge in the meantime, “from August there will be enough people vaccinated so that the restrictive measures are no longer necessary”.
Keen for a vax? This tool shows when you will get vaccinated in Switzerland
Berset also said coronavirus measures could be dropped in the summer. "The goal is to go in the direction of normality," he noted.
However, some believe authorities are being overly optimistic in their predictions.
“The problem is that large deliveries could come all at once in the summer. I doubt that the cantons will be able to cope with these quantities immediately”, said National Councillor Marcel Dobler.
Another deputy, Jörg Mäder, pointed out that it is difficult to predict whether things will return to normal in summer. “But thanks to the vaccination, this goal is within reach”.
READ MORE : Covid-19 third wave: Which countries in Europe have the tightest restrictions?
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