Today in Switzerland: A round-up of the latest news on Monday

Nearly three million people in Switzerland have contracted Covid-19

"Serological studies conducted last November found that about 20 percent of the population had Covid-19 antibodies," the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) told NZZ am Sonntag.

Since November, an additional 10 percent had tested positive, altogether adding up to one-third of the population since the start of the pandemic in March 2020.  

However, the real number is likely higher as many people might have been infected without knowing it — for instance, those who had no symptoms were not tested and are not included in the statistics.

A nurse takes a blood sample from a person to perform a serological test . Photo by Julio Cesar AGUILAR / AFP

Employers’ association: Unvaccinated people should be transferred to other jobs

Anyone who  refuses to be vaccinated but occupies a position in which they are in close contact with people, should be transferred to other posts, Swiss Employers' Union said.

This statement is based on an earlier court decision, ruling that "employees who don’t want to be vaccinated but who present an increased risk to particularly vulnerable people, can be assigned to another post within the same company, ” said Fredy Greuter, spokesperson for the Swiss Employers' Union.

Switzerland gets its own virus mutation

English, South African, Brazilian, Indian…and now there is also a Swiss Covid variant.

It was reportedly detected in a 57-year-old man who lives near Turin in Italy. The mutation was identified as “Swiss” because it is most frequently detected in Switzerland, according to Andrea Sottile, General Director of Turin’s Istituto di Candiolo.

“Like the English mutation, the Swiss version is highly contagious”, the Italian researchers said.

But Swiss infection specialist Christian Garzoni noted that the Swiss variant “is one of many. It is probably no more dangerous than the English variant and responds to the vaccine”.

READ MORE: India Covid variant found in Switzerland: health authority

Zug’s tax policy attracts record number of millionaires

Tiny Zug has seen an influx of millionaire residents, making it the Swiss canton with the highest proportion of wealthy people.

In 1969, 10 out of every 1,000 taxpayers could boast a fortune of more than one million francs. Since then, that number has been increasing, to over 130 today, which is a proportion of one in eight.

In the whole of Switzerland, “only” 62 out of 1,000 residents are millionaires, so Zug is well ahead of the national average.

Zug has the edge because, according to Christoph A. Schaltegger, professor of political economy at the University of Lucerne, it has an attractive tax structure for both foreign and domestic millionaires.

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