Over the seven days to 5 March 2021, Switzerland reported 7,358 new positive Covid-19 cases, 2.8% more than the week before, when cases rose by 1.5%.
However, the Swiss National COVID-19 Science Task Force remains concerned. Case numbers can quickly rise, as they did in early October 2020. On 12 October 2020, there were around 1,200 new cases a day. Within a few weeks this increased 6-fold. Vaccines and higher levels of natural immunity help. But according to Corona Immuntias, a nationwide antibody testing programme, the majority of Switzerland’s population appears to remain unprotected.
Faster spreading strains now make up 72% of total cases, up from 58% last week. And the reproduction rate has risen too from 1.01 this time last week to 1.04 this week. 19 of Switzerland’s 26 cantons now have a reproduction rate above 1. Basel-City, with 1.27, has the highest rate.
Vaccinations are progressing slowly. According to the latest figures, 3.5% of the population has been fully vaccinated and the rate has now hit 10 doses per 100 people. Switzerland started vaccinating in most cantons nearly 10 weeks ago. At the rate so far it would take around 200 weeks to vaccinate 70% of the population. To get there by summer, the goal the government remains committed to, will require the pace of vaccination to accelerate by around 2000%.
The number of deaths this week was 75, down slightly from 78 people last week. The total death toll in Switzerland is now 10,036 (9,331 confirmed positive).
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