Swiss report record 6,634 new COVID infections, 10 deaths

Switzerland set a record for new COVID-19 infections on Friday, joining around 50 other nations where total cases exceed 100,000 as a second coronavirus wave engulfs the country of 8.6 million people and stretches testing and tracing to their limits. Total confirmed cases in Switzerland and tiny neighbouring principality Liechtenstein rose by 6,634 to 103,653, and the death toll rose by 10 to 1,877, Swiss health officials said.

Switzerland set a record for new COVID-19 infections on Friday, joining around 50 other nations where total cases exceed 100,000 as a second coronavirus wave engulfs the country of 8.6 million people and stretches testing and tracing to their limits.

Total confirmed cases in Switzerland and tiny neighbouring principality Liechtenstein rose by 6,634 to 103,653, and the death toll rose by 10 to 1,877, Swiss health officials said. On Wednesday, Switzerland reported 5,596 new infections, the previous record. Tighter nationwide restrictions are expected from the federal government in Bern next week, while the country is still aiming to keep businesses open, children in classes and hospitals operating while re-gaining the upper hand over exploding case numbers.

Health officials acknowledged accelerating infections in the last two weeks, including in the banking centre of Zurich, had come more quickly than anticipated. While intensive care units expanded earlier this year are filling in most of the country, nearly all have room for more patients, a Swiss Federal Institute of Technology graphic https://icumonitoring.ch showed. Testing and tracing capacity is being stretched to the limit, with officials appealing to those who test positive to reach out themselves to inform people with whom they have had contact and to encourage them to enter quarantine.

"When exponential growth begins, then it really takes off," Christiane Meier, the cantonal doctor in Zurich, told a news conference. "We have to admit, we hadn't expected it to happen so quickly, and we had expected it to come more in combination with the flu season." The numbers come as Germany has put Switzerland on its risk list for coronavirus hot spots, warning its residents to avoid the Alpine republic as well as ski regions in Austria and Italy in a bid to keep the virus from running rampant across borders as winter nears.

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