COVID-19: New high of positivity rate in repetitive testing

As of calendar week 41, a continued increase in the positivity rate of the analysed pool samples has been recorded across the twelve contractual cantons of TOGETHER WE TEST (see graph). In this current week (Monday to and including Thursday), the positivity rate across the 7,846 participating schools and businesses has reached a new high of 4.0 %.  

Against the background of these rapidly increasing numbers, repetitive testing plays a decisive role. This makes it possible to systematically detect infected persons and as a result, break chains of infection. This interruption in the spread of the virus is vital for maintaining classroom teaching in schools and the deployment of employees within companies. In addition, they also contribute to calming the epidemiological situation.

The volume of repetitive tests has also been at a new high since school was resumed after the autumn holidays. In each of the last three weeks, around 30,000 pool tests were evaluated. At the end of this week, the threshold figure of 3.5 million total individual tests carried out since the start of the project in March 2021 will be exceeded. The number of test kits delivered each week has also reached a new high and is currently around 400,000.

For the latest figure, please see www.hirslanden.ch/twtstats.

About Hirslanden

The Hirslanden Group operates 17 hospitals in 10 cantons, many of which have an emergency department. It also operates 4 outpatient surgical units, 17 radiology institutes and 5 radiotherapy institutes. Together with public and private cooperation partners, Hirslanden focuses on the continuum of care and the promoting of high-quality, responsible, personalised and efficiently integrated healthcare.

The Group has 2,314 partner doctors and 10,711 employees, 479 of whom are permanently employed doctors. Hirslanden is the largest medical network in Switzerland. In the 2020/21 financial year the Group generated a turnover of CHF 1,796 million (including CHF 12.6 million cantonal COVID-19 compensation payments). As at 31 March 2021, the Group had treated 107,401 patients for a total of 461,004 in-patient days. In insurance terms, the patient mix consists of 51 % basic, 28.8 % semi-private, and 20.2 % private insured patients.

Hirslanden is synonymous with first-class medical care provided by highly qualified medical specialists with many years of experience. As a system provider, the Group stands out from the rest of the market: interdisciplinary medical centres of expertise and specialised institutes enable it to offer the best possible individualised treatment, even in highly complex cases. The Hirslanden Group was formed in 1990 through the merger of several hospitals. Since 2007, it has been part of the international hospital group Mediclinic International plc, which is listed on the London Stock Exchange.