If the Diamond Princess cruise ship moored in Yokohama is excluded, Switzerland makes the top 10 nations most affected by the coronavirus.
By the afternoon of 9 March 2020 there were 380 recorded cases of infection in Switzerland, 3 of which had recovered and 2 of which had died.
When countries are ranked based on infection rate (cases / population), Switzerland rises to fifth behind China. Only Italy, South Korea, Iran and China have higher infection rates than Switzerland. Places like Hong Kong and Singapore now have far lower rates of infection than Switzerland.
- Coronavirus: map of Swiss cases by canton (Le News)
- Swiss coronavirus tests now partly covered by health insurance (Le News)
Some people have been calling on the Swiss government to control the country’s borders or to request people arriving from certain countries to self quarantine, whether they have symptoms or not.
If the rise in number of infections in Switzerland continues at the current rate its per capita rate of infection could surpass China’s by Wednesday. The number of infections in China is almost at standstill. At this point it might become difficult for those in Switzerland to travel to some countries or they might face quarantine requirements on arrival.
A survey taken between 3 and 6 March 2020 by Link, and published by the newspaper SonntagsBlick and reported on by RTS, shows a majority of Switzerland’s population is sanguine about the dangers posed by the coronavirus. 67% felt slightly or not at all threatened by the virus, 24% thought the danger was average and 8% thought it was high.
More on this:
Global Cases by Johns Hopkins CSSE (in English)
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Eddy says
It is then clear that the decision to stop testing of only the most severe cases serves to stop Switzerland climbing to the top of this list and drawing too much negative attention on itself. Head it the sand.