Exactly two years ago, corona cases were registered in Europe for the first time. The emergence of the novel coronavirus Sars-CoV-2 also became a notifiable infectious disease in Switzerland. Health Minister Alain Berset has been in constant use ever since. “I’ve been in politics every minute for almost two years – mainly to fight this pandemic,” said the Federal Council.
You could have prepared better.
In SRF’s “Samstagsrundschau” Berset self-critically answered the question of whether he had made mistakes in the past two years. In an interview, Berset admitted that, in retrospect, mistakes had been made: “One could have prepared better.”
In 2018, 2019 nobody thought of such a brutal pandemic. At the beginning of the pandemic, there was disorganization across the country – some things were missing, others were scarce. But in a crisis situation in which a lot of information is still missing, mistakes can hardly be avoided, Berset continued. And he drew an overall positive balance: “In which country would you otherwise have wanted to live in this pandemic?”
Does the quarantine obligation fall?
In the current Corona situation, the Federal Council is radiating a lot of hope for an end to the pandemic. According to Berset, the quarantine obligation could even drop next week. The Minister of Health rates the current situation as good.
Despite the very high number of cases, there is no problem in the hospital sector – and that is decisive for the Federal Council.
Berset: “I think we now have a perspective that hasn’t been as good as it is today for a long time.” According to Berset, around ten percent of the Swiss population was infected with the corona virus last week. “Despite the very high number of cases, there is no problem in the hospital sector – and that is decisive for the Federal Council.”
And there is currently no mutation or development to be seen that could change this. However, it is unclear whether this will remain the case in winter 2022/23. “We have to accept this uncertainty.”