City of Bern: Home office remains possible
Even after the pandemic, the employees of the Bern city administration should be able to work partially from their home office. The municipal council is pursuing this goal, as it announced today.
He first wants to gain experience with mixed forms of home office and office work. During a one-year transition phase, employees should be allowed to work around 40 percent of their jobs from home if this is compatible with their function and tasks.
Only after the “trial phase” should the legal basis and organizational measures be anchored. The aim is a good mix between flexible working and on-site cooperation, writes the municipal council.
Berne government against the release of ivermectin
The Bern government council does not want to know anything about the fact that Covid sufferers will be able to take the deworming drug Ivermectin on their own responsibility in the future. He makes that clear in his response to a motion by Samuel Kullmann (EDU).
Ivermectin is primarily used in animals. In vaccination-skeptical circles, the deworming agent is also attributed a positive effect in the treatment of people with Covid. Corresponding media reports have been circulating for months. Swiss customs have repeatedly confiscated illegal imports of the drug.
Motionär Kullmann wants to change that. Interested parties should be able to get the drug legally in the canton of Bern if they want to do this for independent off-label treatment against Covid.
The government council rejects Kullmann’s request for legal and medical reasons. Independent intake for Covid therapy is not legally permissible – the federal government would have to change the Therapeutic Products Act for this. And the effectiveness of ivermectin in Covid patients is by no means proven.
Slovenia lifts most of the measures
Slovenia lifted most of the corona measures on Monday. The 3G rule no longer applies to visiting restaurants, hotels and events, reports the STA news agency, citing a government decision made at the weekend. Travelers who come to the EU country between the Alps and the Adriatic Sea are also no longer required to provide 3G proof. In addition, the curfews imposed will be lifted. The night gastronomy can open again.
The mask requirement in publicly accessible interiors and the 3G rule for health facilities, retirement homes and prisons remain valid. In the country of two million people, the number of infections has been falling for some time, but is still very high. The seven-day incidence was 4248 over the weekend.
Great Britain: Plan to end isolation obligation criticized in advance
In Great Britain, the plans to end the obligation to isolate people infected with corona were criticized even before they were published. Experts described the planned steps as premature and not based on scientific assessments. The opposition Labor Party is particularly concerned about the end of free testing. Prime Minister Boris Johnson wants to explain the project to Parliament on Monday (4:30 p.m. CET).
It is expected that the conservative government will release corona infected people from the beginning of next month whether they want to isolate themselves. In addition, it could become more difficult to detect infections at all because, according to reports, the previously free tests are no longer freely available.
Legend:
Johnson had defended the project on the BBC over the weekend. You have reached a point where you can appeal to the personal responsibility of the citizens.
Reuters
Get well wishes for the Queen
After Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II (95) tested positive for the coronavirus, politicians and dignitaries around the world have expressed their wishes for a recovery.
“I am sure that I speak on behalf of everyone when I wish Her Majesty a speedy recovery from Covid-19 and that she will regain full health soon,” British Prime Minister Boris Johnson wrote on Twitter on Sunday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby said they would pray for the Queen. “Our thoughts and prayers are with you,” Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said on Twitter. Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau wished a speedy and full recovery on behalf of “millions of Canadians”.
Buckingham Palace announced on Sunday that Elizabeth II had contracted Covid-19 and was suffering from mild symptoms. Nevertheless, the monarch wants to continue doing light work.
After receiving expired doses: Dozens of people in the Schwyz hospital were vaccinated
The patients who were given an expired vaccine by a doctor in Ibach SZ are now protected against the coronavirus thanks to booster vaccinations. The doctor’s office is still closed, according to the Office for Health and Social Affairs.
In December 2021, the public prosecutor’s office opened criminal proceedings against the doctor because in her practice Covid 19 vaccine doses that had expired several months ago were administered. The woman was temporarily banned from practicing her profession.
As reported by the Office for Health and Social Affairs, 202 people to whom the doctor had issued a Covid certificate reported to the authority. Almost all of them, namely 197, had received a vaccination certificate from her, 5 a certificate for those who had recovered. The health department, together with the vaccine manufacturer Moderna, clarified which of the vaccinated people did not have full vaccination protection. A booster vaccination was recommended for 46 people.
No Corona cases at the end of the Winter Games
At the end of the Winter Olympics in Beijing there were again no new coronavirus infections. As the organizers announced on Monday, no new infections were discovered in the 65,000 or so corona tests that were taken in the closed bubble on Sunday.
During the games, which ended on Sunday with the closing ceremony in Beijing’s Bird’s Nest Stadium, more than 1.8 million tests were carried out among all those involved. The total number of infections in the closed system since January 23 was 437, and 265 corona infections were found among those arriving at the airport.
While at times more than 30 infections per day were registered at the beginning of the games, the number of new cases was usually in the low single digits. For several days, no cases were reported at all. The organizers saw this as a success for the strict protective measures.
Australia is welcoming tourists again – and is facing a problem
Since today, twice vaccinated visitors from all over the world have been allowed to enter Australia again. The external borders were largely closed to international travel for almost two years.
On the first day of open borders, Australia is expecting a total of almost 60 flights from abroad. Australians abroad had also suffered from the closed borders, some of whom could not return to their homeland for months.
The first visitors also pose a problem for the tourism industry, emphasizes Urs Walterlin, SRF employee in Australia. Because: whether receptionists, tour guides or diving instructors; «there is a lack of tourism professionals everywhere.» In the corona pandemic, many companies in the industry went bankrupt and thousands of jobs were lost. As a result, many skilled workers would have changed professions.
The most important thing of the weekend
Good morning, we welcome you to a new live ticker about the latest on the corona crisis. These are the most important messages of the last few hours:
- The police in Canada’s capital Ottawa have largely broken up the weeks of protests against the government’s corona policy. A total of 170 people were arrested and 53 vehicles were towed away, the police said on Saturday evening (local time) on Twitter.
- Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II has tested positive for the corona virus. The 95-year-old Queen is feeling “mild, cold-like symptoms” but wants to continue doing “light tasks” in Windsor next week, Buckingham Palace said.
- Although the corona pandemic is not over yet, politicians in Switzerland at all levels have started to work through the corona crisis. In total, more than a dozen evaluations of the pandemic are in progress, as the “Sonntagszeitung” wrote.
The live ticker with the reports from the last week can be found here.