Corona in Switzerland – Swiss hospitals are pushing the expansion of intensive care beds

The number of Covid 19 patients in intensive care units continues to increase in Switzerland, while the number of corona cases and tests did not increase significantly. This is shown by the latest situation report on the epidemiological situation in Switzerland and in the Principality of Liechtenstein by the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH).

Intensive care units are 81 percent full

The total capacity utilization of the intensive care units rose to 81 percent. “This means that the highest IPS utilization was achieved during the entire epidemic,” says the report.

In week 49, the FOPH counted 688 hospitalizations in connection with a confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection. In the previous week there were 538 hospitalizations at the same time. The number rose sharply compared to the previous week. The average number of patients with a laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection in an intensive care unit increased to 273 in the reporting week from 238 in the previous week.

BAG data cause confusion

In a table in the report, the FOPH lists 737 hospitalizations for week 48, in scrolling text 538. At the request of the editorial team, the office explained the confusion as follows: «Both figures are correct, both the one in the table and the one in the scrolling text. The difference is due to late registrations. They are included in the table (data status: December 15, 2021), but not in the scrolling text (data status: December 8, 2021).

In order to see the trend of the development, it is better to compare the status of hospitalizations in week 49 on December 15th with the status of hospitalizations in week 48 on December 8th, since late registrations are missing on both reference days, the FOPH shares With.

According to BAG 1699, virus samples were sequenced in week 47. The Omikron variant appeared in 0.5 percent of the samples in Switzerland and Liechtenstein, according to the new management report.