COVID-19 epidemic in Switzerland: on the importance of testing, contact tracing and isolation.
- Salathé M EPFL, Switzerland.
- Althaus CL University of Bern, Switzerland.
- Neher R University of Basel, Switzerland.
- Stringhini S CHUV/UNIL/EPFL, Switzerland.
- Hodcroft E University of Bern, Switzerland.
- Fellay J University Hospital Zurich, Switzerland.
- Zwahlen M University Hospital Basel, Switzerland.
- Senti G London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK.
- Battegay M HCUGE, Switzerland.
- Wilder-Smith A University of Bern, Switzerland.
- Eckerle I University of Bern, Switzerland.
- Egger M
- Low N
- 2020-03-20
Published in:
- Swiss medical weekly. - 2020
Betacoronavirus
Contact Tracing
Coronavirus Infections
Disease Outbreaks
Humans
Mass Screening
Patient Isolation
Pneumonia, Viral
Public Health Surveillance
Quarantine
Switzerland
English
Switzerland is among the countries with the highest number of coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) cases per capita in the world. There are likely many people with undetected SARS-CoV-2 infection because testing efforts are currently not detecting all infected people, including some with clinical disease compatible with COVID-19. Testing on its own will not stop the spread of SARS-CoV-2. Testing is part of a strategy. The World Health Organization recommends a combination of measures: rapid diagnosis and immediate isolation of cases, rigorous tracking and precautionary self-isolation of close contacts. In this article, we explain why the testing strategy in Switzerland should be strengthened urgently, as a core component of a combination approach to control COVID-19.
- Language
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- English
- Open access status
- gold
- Identifiers
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- DOI 10.4414/smw.2020.20225
- PMID 32191813
- Persistent URL
- https://folia.unifr.ch/global/documents/234727
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