The number of Covid infections has been increasing significantly for a few weeks, most recently cases have increased by almost 50 percent within seven days. A week ago, the Federal Office of Health (BAG) registered more than 5,000 new infections per day.
Tanja Stadler (41), former chair of the now dismantled Corona Task Force, assumes that the number of unreported cases is significantly higher. It is likely that the number of corona infections is four to six times higher than the registered cases, the ETH scientist tells Radio SRF. This means that 20,000 to 30,000 people are infected with the corona virus every day.
Viral load in wastewater is increasing
There are several indications of a very high number of unreported cases. On the one hand, the positivity rate – i.e. the proportion of tests that are positive – is currently above 40 percent, an extremely high value. Even with a five percent positivity rate, scientists assume that the number of unreported cases is high. Currently, just over 10,000 PCR tests and rapid antigen tests are performed in Switzerland every day – ten times fewer than during the 2021/22 winter wave.
In addition, according to SRF evaluations, the viral load in the wastewater has been increasing since the end of August. The measured virus concentration rises sharply at a quarter of the monitoring stations.
Stadler warns that the high number of unreported cases poses dangers. “Due to the fact that many people no longer know that they are infected, go to events unprotected and potentially infect many people,” she says. She also points out possible long-term consequences of corona disease.
Consult cantons on Thursdays
Not only the number of infections, but also that of hospital admissions has increased recently – albeit less. Most recently, nearly 400 corona patients were hospitalized within a week. Every fifth corona patient in hospital is older than 80 years. For the cantons, however, there is currently no risk of overloading the health care system.
So far they have not responded to the increasing numbers. The cantonal health directors will meet on Thursday
directors to a scholarship. The corona situation is likely to be a problem, but it is currently quite unlikely that the cantons will be recommended to take measures, such as mandating masks in certain areas. (lha)