Credit: Bern.com

The Swiss COVID-19 task force has demanded urgent action after ‘insufficient” measures taken by the Swiss Federal Council on Dec. 11 2020.

“There is a clear significant rise in cases,” Patrick Mathys, head of the crisis management at the Federal Office of Public Health, told reporters on Dec. 15. “We need effective measures to reduce the pressure on the health system. We need to take hospitals’ calls for help seriously. Staff are at their limits and can’t offer the services that they need to,” added Mathys.

“The task force has concluded that the new measures introduced last Friday are insufficient. From a scientific point of view we should have new measures as quickly as possible – similar to the lockdown in spring. Non-essential shops should be closed,” said Martin Ackermann, head of the Swiss National COVID-19 Science Taskforce.

Five Swiss top doctors warned the Federal Council that a second wave of the pandemic was draining the country’s ICU’s capacities and could lead to a broad health system collapse as early as January 2021.

Major Swiss Opera houses, theaters, and concert halls have closed until at least the end of January 2021.

The Council is set to convene on Dec. 18 again in order to re-evaluate the epidemiological situation.