Thank you for sharing this.

However, the response to a test call, admittedly after 21h00, was only in French.

I’ll try it out again tomorrow to see if info is available in other languages.

For those of you living in the French side, you can find information about the spread of the pandemic in this website:

https://mapthenews.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/5df19abcf8714bc590a3b143e14a548c

As for government information:

FERNEY

https://www.ferney-voltaire.fr/coronavirus-covid-19-informations/

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

https://www.gouvernement.fr/info-coronavirus

For news, try the sites of BFM, the other TV channels, etc. For more local news try regional versions of national outlets like this, for TV channel 3 news:

https://france3-regions.francetvinfo.fr/societe/sante/coronavirus?r=auvergne-rhone-alpes

Interestoing coronavirus data site for Switzerland.  You can get the full picture in Switzerland by canton and you can track the development from the 25th February.  I know it does not help the current situation but you can see that cantons with international airports or bordering on Italy are more prone to contamination.              https://www.corona-data.ch/

Thanks, Paul.

I am shocked to see that the prevalence per 100,000 in habitants is higher in Switzerland than in Spain or Switzerland and it is rising at a higher rate than in the other countries compared with in the chart below. The case fatality rate is only 2%, not amongst the worst, and certainly lower than in Spain or Italy, but still, higher than in Germany and several other countries, and, hence, suprising.

Note that the lines are plotted based on the number of days since the virus was seeded (prevalence was greater than 4 per 100,000) in the country. So what it shows is the rate at which it spread and is a measure of the success of containment efforts.

The lines for South Korea and Italy are longer because the virus was seeded there at an earlier point, and they are shorter for the UK and US because it got there later. Switzerland (grey) and Spain (purple) have a similar time course. It hit Germany (orange) and France (blue-hidden under Italy (green) at about the same time.

If you go to the website, and put your cursor on each of the lines on the chart, it displays the actual numbers over the lines at different time points.

Sorry for the typo on post 5. It should read:

I am shocked to see that the prevalence per 100,000 inhabitants is higher in Switzerland than in Spain or ITALY and it is rising at a higher rate than in the other countries compared with in the chart below. The case fatality rate is only 2%, not amongst the worst, and certainly lower than in Spain or Italy, but still, higher than in Germany and several other countries, and, hence, suprising.

The Swiss claim that the higher confirmed infection ratio in CH, is due to their better testing. So it does not necessarily mean that they are more ill.

I have been told (unconfirmed) that Swiss testing capacity is almost equal to all of France, with 8 times the population.

Thanks Tor.  It is something I have also considered and it is logical.  But you can come to all sorts of conclusions.  But connected with this is a question.  Why are there hardly any cases in Africa?.  Testing might be limited but cases are being reported and in the large cities one would expect more cases. Take Ethiopia which is reasonably sophisticated but only 23 cases, none serious and one recovered.  This not for discussion just soemething I have noticed on      https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/#countries              

It is hard to make comparisons between countries because, indeed, the rate of testing varies widely. But these two charts would seem to contradict what you (tawb) have heard, unless the pace of testing in Switzerland has increased rapidly (Switzerland's figures are from 7 March).

Due to the different testig strategies followed in different countries, and which have also been changing along the days, it is difficult to compare the number of detected cases. However, the number of deaths (either absolute or relative to the population) is directly comparable.

If you take a look at those numbers, Switzerland has a rather low mortality due to corona virus, given the very high number of cases per 100000 inhabitants, compared to other countries such as Italy or Spain. Is it because the population here is younger, therfore small percentage with high risk factors?

On the other hand, if you look at the diff of the number of deaths (i.e, how many more deaths compared to the previous day) in Switzerland, it is still growing every day, which means that we are quite probably still far from the peak. So those who speak about starting going back to work normally etc by mid/end of April, I think they are way too optimistic.

I live in France, where the terms of the lockdown are quite strict. No one except those in essential services are working and we can only go out to shop for food and medicine, or for medical reasons.

I just heard today that confinement is quite lax in Switzerland and that screening of arrivals at the airport is quite lax. What have you seen? We are prevented from crossing the border (and this is very strongly enforced by the Swiss), so we can't see for ourselves. I live at the edge of Ornex, where there are paths in the woods and fields that extend across the border. The Swiss placed large, heavy concrete barriers to block access.

In blocking border access, I guess the Swiss are only resurrecting what they did in WWII.  Plus ça change …

As you say, confinment measures in Switzerland are quite lax. Neighbouring countries (especially France and Italy), are beginning to complain about this, arguing that part of the very big efforts they are doing to contain the epidemic are somehow wasted because of Switzerland's policy: when you still have the borders open for frontaliers who come and go every day between the two countries, it is easy to think that this will contribute to more contagions in the border areas of France and Italy.

On the other hand, Switzerland really needs these workers to continue to go to work every day in Geneva and Ticino's hospitals, so if Switzerland received more preasure from Italy/France, maybe they will be forced to close the border for all commuters except those working in the medical system?

One of the advantages  of being old and decrepit is that I have had to self isolate and do things which I normally would not do.  Yesterday (not April 1st) my wife called me to see a news programme on Bulgarian TV, showing a clip of a Swiss chocolate manufacturer adding white chocolate masks and a red chocolate heart to Easter bunnies. Can anyone confirm this and, if so which is the manufaxcruer as I will order a couple as presents.?

"At the Bohnenblust bakery in the Swiss capital Bern, the chocolate rabbits with white sugary masks have proved a hit with customers, co-manager Ruth Huber said."

Not sure whether or not you can order them though...