The Swiss army has registered its first case of coronavirus. A soldier was tested positive at the place of arms of Wangen an der Aare (BE). He has been placed in segregation in the hospital wing, the Army announced on Tuesday.
When he entered service Monday for a rehearsal course, the man said he had recently visited Milan. It was subjected to a test, carried out by the ABC laboratory of Spiez (BE). Confirmation by the Geneva reference laboratory is still awaited.
His condition is stable. The three people who shared his room were placed in quarantine. The other soldiers who were in contact with the infected patient were placed in temporary quarantine overnight.
Support for civil authorities
Recruit schools and rehearsal courses continue to operate without change, the Army said in its statement. The exit radius has been limited for all troops serving in the country, to allow them to be ready at any time to serve the civil authorities and the population.
Indeed, with each positive case discovered, an entire company, or even several, should be quarantined and would no longer be ready to be engaged, explains the Army. The operational and command capacity of the armed forces must remain guaranteed.
Currently, around 10,000 soldiers are in service. Due to the danger of coronavirus infection, the military canceled a number of events, including all visiting days for recruits and a meeting of all senior staff officers on Wednesday. This meeting will take place in a decentralized manner by videoconference. The “Safety is also feminine” event scheduled for Friday has also been canceled. (Ps / nxp)
Created: 03.03.2020, 08:30 am
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