Switzerland is getting ready for another wet weekend

The weather has been hot and sunny in the past few days, but it is expected to worsen starting tonight.

Meteorologists predict that strong thunderstorms are likely to hit Switzerland again, with hail storms and squalls also forecast.

“Saturday evening and night should be quite severe in many places in Switzerland”, said Roger Perret of MeteoNews, adding that the situation will remain “volatile” until mid-week.

READ MORE: Switzerland: Which areas are at the greatest risk of flooding this weekend?
 

Infections and hospitalisations up over one week

Though the number of daily Covid cases has been climbing in Switzerland in the last three weeks, health officials said they were not overly concerned as coronavirus-related hospitalisations have remained low.

However, new figures from the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) show that Covid-related admissions have more than doubled in the space of one week, from 23 to 48.

For the government to implement further measures, occupancy of beds in the intensive care units by Covid patients must exceed 300 over a 14-day period.

READ MORE : Why are Switzerland’s Covid rates on the rise once again?

Delta accounts for almost all coronavirus cases in Switzerland

As of July 22nd, over 94 percent of infections detected in Switzerland are attributed to the Delta  variant, according to the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH).

On the other hand, the share of contaminations caused by other strains has declined sharply.

This FOPH chart shows how Delta has overtaken the other mutations to become the dominant strain.

A tiny minority of people in Switzerland got Covid after vaccination

Vaccines don’t totally prevent infections, but the likelihood of catching coronavirus is minimal, health officials say.

Since the end of January 2021, out of 190,000 people who have tested positive to the virus, only 273 were fully vaccinated.

“We are pleased with these figures, as they prove that vaccines protect effectively against Covid-19”, Christoph Berger, president of the Federal Commission for Vaccinations told RTS broadcaster.

Geneva, the champion of bi-nationality

About 46 percent of the canton’s Swiss population aged 15 or over have dual citizenship,  according to a study by the Cantonal Statistics Office (Ocstat).

While  Geneva’s bi-nationality figures are the highest in Switzerland, “the same dynamic can be seen in the rest of the country, where dual citizenship has increased by five percent”, said Sophie Mouchet, statistician at Ocstat.

In total, over 19 percent of Switzerland’s population is bi-national.

If you have any questions about life in Switzerland, ideas for articles or news tips for The Local, please get in touch with us at [email protected]