According to Meteo Swiss, spring this year was the coldest in 30 years. The mean May temperature across the country was 2.5 ° C below the 1981-2010 norm. Over the last 30 years, only 2019 and 2013 came close to having May temperatures as cold as they were in May 2021. When chilly May is […]
Covid: restrictions could end in August, says Swiss health minister
On 30 May 2021, Alain Berset, Switzerland’s health minister said in an interview on RTS that he thought a return to normality could be possible in August 2021 if vaccinations progress as hoped. On 31 May 2021, Switzerland entered the stabilisation phase, the second last stage of its return to normality. Restaurants began welcoming guests […]
Covid: how is Switzerland going on vaccinations?
On 23 December 2020, a 90-year old resident of Luzern, was the first person in Switzerland to be vaccinated against Covid-19. In the roughly 5 months since then, more than 3 million people in Switzerland have received at least one dose of vaccine, representing around 36% of the population. By 1 June 2021, 1.75 million […]
Covid: no Swiss quarantine if entering from Italy or Germany
On 2 June 2021, Switzerland’s Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) announced that effective from 3 June 2021, all of Italy, Germany, Luxembourg, Cyprus, Croatia, Turkey and Iran would be removed from its list of risk countries. However, parts of France, including the regions of Centre-Val de Loire, Hauts-de-France, Île de France, Normandie and Pays […]
Drugs in Switzerland more expensive than ever compared to Europe
A recent study by Interpharma and Santésuisse shows how rapidly drug prices have risen in Switzerland over the 10 years to 2020. Between 2010 and 2020, medicine prices have risen by nearly 37% in Switzerland. In addition, the cost of basic health insurance has risen at 3 times the rate of GDP over the same […]
Covid: new cases down 28% in Switzerland this week
This week, 5,670 new Covid-19 cases were recorded in Switzerland, down 28% from the week before (7,843), continuing the downward trend of new numbers of recorded infections. The daily number of cases on a 7-day rolling average has more than halved (-58%) in 4 weeks falling from 1,924 to 810. With around 34% of Switzerland’s population vaccinated […]
Covid: UK now on Swiss risk list
On 27 May 2021, the UK was added Switzerland’s list of risk countries. This means that anyone arriving in Switzerland from the UK from 6pm on Thursday must quarantine upon arrival, with a few exceptions. The UK was added to the Federal Office of Public Health’s (FOPH) list of countries with a worrying variant, alongside […]
Unisex toilets find political support in Vaud
A majority of Vaud’s parliament voted in favour of looking at a proposal to exempt those providing toilets to the public from the current legal requirement to provide separate toilets for men and women, according to the newspaper 20 Minutes. Under the proposal, put forward by Vassilis Venizelos of the Green Party, establishments, such as […]
Swiss government says no to EU deal
At its meeting on 26 May 2021, Switzerland’s Federal Council evaluated the results of Switzerland’s negotiations with the EU around the institutional framework agreement, an agreement aimed at replacing the country’s current patchwork of agreements with the bloc, and decided not to sign the document as it stands and communicated its decision to Brussels. The […]
Swiss fighter jet crashes in Alps
On 26 May 2021, the Swiss government announced that one of its Tiger F-5 military aircraft had crashed in the Alps at around 9am. The aircraft crashed in the region of Melchsee-Frutt in the canton of Obwalden at around 9am. The pilot was able to eject before the aircraft crashed into the ground and was […]
