Coronavirus Five years ago, the Federal Council declared a lockdown for Switzerland
Five years ago, schools had to close due to the lockdown. (archive image)
Image: Keystone
On March 16, 2020, the Federal Council declared an emergency in Switzerland. (archive image)
Image: Keystone
Many supermarket shelves remained empty due to hoarding. (archive image)
Image: Keystone
People were also not allowed to stay in playgrounds. (archive picture)
Image: Keystone
Universities moved their lectures into virtual space. (archive image)
Image: Keystone
Restaurants, bars and clubs also had to close their doors. (archive image)
Image: Keystone
Switzerland closed several smaller border crossings, such as here between Oberriet SG and Meiningen in Austria. (archive image)
Image: Keystone
The coronavirus pandemic resulted in deserted city centers, like here in Bern's Marktgasse. (archive image)
Image: Keystone
Five years ago, schools had to close due to the lockdown. (archive image)
Image: Keystone
On March 16, 2020, the Federal Council declared an emergency in Switzerland. (archive image)
Image: Keystone
Many supermarket shelves remained empty due to hoarding. (archive image)
Image: Keystone
People were also not allowed to stay in playgrounds. (archive picture)
Image: Keystone
Universities moved their lectures into virtual space. (archive image)
Image: Keystone
Restaurants, bars and clubs also had to close their doors. (archive image)
Image: Keystone
Switzerland closed several smaller border crossings, such as here between Oberriet SG and Meiningen in Austria. (archive image)
Image: Keystone
The coronavirus pandemic resulted in deserted city centers, like here in Bern's Marktgasse. (archive image)
Image: Keystone
Five years ago, on March 16, 2020, the Federal Council declared a state of emergency for the whole of Switzerland due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. During the lockdown, restaurants, stores, markets and leisure facilities had to be closed.
16.03.2025, 09:02
SDA
The lockdown and coronavirus measures affected various areas of society:
WORK: The pandemic led to a worldwide spread of home offices in companies. Almost half of all employees have always or at least occasionally had the option of working from home since the start of the pandemic, according to a survey conducted by the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) in 2021. People with a tertiary degree and those with high incomes were particularly likely to work from home, at 67.7% and 72.3% respectively.
Significantly fewer people had accidents in Switzerland during the lockdown. This had an impact on the finances of accident insurer Suva, which quadrupled its operating result to CHF 241 million in 2020. It reduced insurance premiums in 2021. Occupational accidents fell by 10.8 percent compared to the previous year, and leisure accidents by as much as 10.9 percent.
INCOME: A survey conducted by the FSO in 2021 also showed that 11.3 percent of the population suffered a loss of income due to the pandemic. In the catering and accommodation sectors, one in three people are even earning less due to the consequences of the pandemic.
PSYCHOLOGICAL HEALTH: According to the FSO, coronavirus also had a negative impact on the mental health of the population in Switzerland: 40.2% stated that the pandemic had had a negative effect on their mood. The proportion was particularly high among people aged between 16 and 24 (55.1 percent), people with a tertiary education (44.8 percent) and high earners (45.1 percent). Retired people were more relaxed about the health crisis: Only one in four allowed the issue to spoil their mood.
According to a study by the University of Basel, almost one in two people were more stressed during the lockdown than before the crisis. The main reasons cited for this were the changes in work or education, the restricted social life and the burden of childcare. During the lockdown, the proportion of people suffering from depressive symptoms increased. For example, 57% of respondents stated that such symptoms had increased.
The Dargebotene Hand help service conducted significantly more calls in the coronavirus year 2020 than in the previous year. Seven percent more calls were received by the "Tel 143" helpline. From April to July and in December, Dargebotene Hand offered almost 200 additional call hours. More and longer conversations were held.
SUCHT: According to Sucht Schweiz, the coronavirus pandemic has created new risk groups. People who already had problematic drinking habits before the crisis showed an increase in alcohol consumption. A large proportion of daily smokers increased their consumption during and after the lockdown. Among occasional smokers, smoking tended to decrease.
ROAD TRAFFIC: The lockdown had a significant impact on the reduction in road traffic, according to the FSO. Road traffic fell significantly in the first year of coronavirus in 2020. This can be seen very clearly in the number of road deaths: While 42 people per million inhabitants died in Switzerland in 2019, the figure was only 22 in 2020, a 52.4 percent reduction.
ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION: The reduction in road traffic improved air quality in 2020, albeit not too much: the limit values for ozone were once again exceeded, as were those for respirable particulate matter, at least on the southern side of the Alps, as the Federal Office for the Environment's 2020 Air Quality Report showed.
FINANCIAL AID: To combat the pandemic, various measures were taken to stabilize the economy. These were aimed at companies, employees and the self-employed. These included short-time working compensation, income compensation and bridging loans.
The federal government spent CHF 16.8 billion on short-time work compensation and CHF 17 billion on Covid bridging loans for companies during the first wave. The federal government also supported individual sectors. The cultural sector received CHF 478 million, professional sport CHF 350 million and popular and competitive sport CHF 259 million. The data comes from the Federal Department of Finance.
ARMY: The Federal Council deployed 8,000 members of the armed forces to support the civilian authorities. It was the largest mobilization since the Second World War. The members of the armed forces were deployed in areas such as nursing, patient monitoring, ambulance transport and hospital logistics.
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