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Despite low demand, the city wants to continue offering the service. Citizens on the local council criticize this.
On average, only around 100 people per week were tested for the coronavirus free of charge in the city of Zurich in the fall. Nevertheless, the city wants to continue to offer the free offer for those willing to test.
As the city’s health department announced, residents of Zurich can now be tested for Covid free of charge until April. The city of Zurich has extended the pilot project, which runs until the end of 2023, by several months.
A total of almost 1,300 tests
From September to the end of November, a total of 1,287 tests were carried out – on a resident population of around 450,000 people. However, the urban population is not the only recipient of the free tests; health workers who work in Zurich can also be tested for the coronavirus free of charge if they have symptoms.
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The free tests for the population of Zurich are offered at the Center for Travel Medicine near Hirschengraben. (symbol image)
Keystone / Gaetan Bally
The city doctor Daniel Schröpfer is satisfied with the number of tests carried out. “In my opinion, this is a good response from the population of Zurich to the test offer,” he says. This despite the fact that the capacity was far from being exhausted. The city actually provided more than twice as many free tests.
Criticism in the bourgeois camp
The SVP, among others, therefore sees this critically. She had already voted against such free tests in the local council, but was defeated by the left-green majority. Now again, the party would cancel this offer if it had its way. “There is no need at all anymore. From our point of view, it is therefore unnecessary to maintain this infrastructure and offer such tests,” says SVP local councilor Walter Anken.
These tests are definitely not free: the city raises the money – around 300,000 francs so far – through the public purse. But AL local councilor Andreas Kirstein is certain that this investment is worth it. This offer is particularly important for people with little money.
It is still unclear how much more the extended offer will cost the city and thus the public sector.