The Covid-19 pandemic caused around 14,000 deaths in Switzerland between its outbreak in 2020 and 2024. The pandemic posed significant challenges for social insurance schemes. In a very short space of time, packages of measures were put in place to mitigate the threat of unemployment and loss of earnings. To this end, the Federal Government initially invested money in Covid-19-related loss of earnings and short-time work compensation. Later, people affected by Post-COVID-19 Condition demanded improved support.

In late December 2019, the China Representative Office at the World Health Organisation (WHO) was informed about a cluster of pneumonia cases in Wuhan. Then, at the beginning of January 2020, Chinese authorities identified the new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 as the cause of the illnesses. The first phase of the pandemic mainly affected China. The disease soon spread to Europe, North and South America, India and Africa. It reached Switzerland at the end of February 2020 and was initially assessed as a moderate risk to the population. On 11 March 2020, the WHO classified the infection as a pandemic.

Around 80 per cent of infections with SARS-CoV-2 were asymptomatic or mild. In the other cases, however, the course of the disease was severe. Older people and people with pre-existing conditions (including cardiovascular disease, diabetes and respiratory diseases) were particularly vulnerable.

COVID-19 spread in waves. Switzerland recorded a rapid increase in COVID-19 infections in March 2020. In response to this ‘first wave’, the Federal Council declared an ‘extraordinary situation’ on 16 March 2020. This gave the government special powers. It banned public and private events. Shops, restaurants, entertainment and leisure businesses were closed and entry bans were imposed on people from neighbouring countries. Up to 8,000 members of the army were mobilised to support the healthcare system. The primary aim of the measures was to prevent serious cases of illness and death and to minimise economic damage. The Federal Council's measures were the subject of heated political and public debate.

At the end of April 2020, the Federal Council relaxed the COVID-19 measures and ended the ‘extraordinary situation’. This returned many competences to the cantons for managing the pandemic. The cantonal measures were centred on hygiene and behavioural rules based on four cornerstones: Testing, contact tracing, isolation and quarantine. In autumn 2020, cases of the disease rose again significantly. Switzerland went through the second wave of the pandemic suffering one of the highest infection and mortality rates in Europe. The federal structure proved to be a handicap, with the cantons struggling to coordinate and strengthen measures against the pandemic.

The macroeconomic impact of the pandemic was profound. With a decline in gross domestic product of 3.3 per cent in 2020, Switzerland experienced its worst economic downturn since the 1974/75 recession. To mitigate the consequences, the Federal Council passed an unprecedented package of measures worth CHF 70 billion. The sum was roughly equal to the total annual expenditure of the Federal budget. The objective was to support companies and the self-employed promptly in order to prevent redundancies and unemployment. In total, the Federal Government paid out contributions totalling CHF 4.3 billion as part of the Corona Employment Loss Compensation (CEE).  CHF 2.7 billion was paid out to self-employed workers up to the end of October 2021. This group of employees received federal support for the first time in history.

Between mid-March and mid-May 2020, the number of unemployed people in Switzerland increased by 42,000. Over a third of all employees were registered for short-time work. The instrument of short-time work compensation protected employees from redundancy by enabling unemployment insurance to reimburse employers for a portion of the wage costs paid to employees. The Federal Council introduced measures to extend and simplify short-time working as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Companies could also apply for interim loans between the end of March and the end of July 2020; these were guaranteed by the Federal Government. Around CHF 16.9 billion was used for this purpose. Businesses that were temporarily closed, such as restaurants, bars, discos, leisure and entertainment venues, were categorised as hardship cases and received compensation from the Federal Government and the cantons. In February 2021, the Federal Council decided to expand the hardship programme by increasing it to CHF 10 billion. The costs were divided between the Federal Government (70 per cent) and the cantons (30 per cent). In November 2021, the Federal Council decided to assist the cantons with an additional CHF 200 million to complete the hardship programme. In total, around 35,000 companies received financial support from the Federal Government and cantons totalling around CHF 5.3 billion.  

With regard to support for self-employed workers under the COVID-19 loss of earnings compensation, a distinction was made between two groups: on the one hand self-employed workers who had to close their business completely and, on the other hand self-employed workers whose business could remain open but who suffered a significant loss of turnover due to a lack of customers. The latter were only entitled to COVID-19 loss of earnings compensation if they had an annual income subject to AHV contributions of at least CHF 10,000 in 2019.

In December 2020, the first vaccine against COVID-19 was authorised in Switzerland. The Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) and the Federal Commission for Vaccination Issues (EKIF) presented a vaccination strategy to the public, prioritising the vaccination of particularly vulnerable groups of people. Other target groups were gradually vaccinated against COVID-19 during the course of 2021. The number of cases in Switzerland rose again in March and April 2021, in part due to particularly contagious COVID-19 mutations. As the vaccination campaign progressed, the number of cases fell from May 2021 onwards, but rose again in summer 2021 due to the Delta variant and at the end of 2021 due to the Omicron variant. Finally, from February 2022, the number of confirmed COVID cases began to fall steadily.

The Federal Council ended the extraordinary situation on 1 April 2022. All COVID-19 protection measures were cancelled. The right to make claims for the various categories of COVID-19-related compensation gradually expired through to autumn 2022. On 5 May 2023, the WHO declared the global health emergency to be over. Nevertheless, there were further infections with the COVID-19 virus in the autumn and winter of 2023.

The costs of COVID vaccinations were covered by compulsory health insurance, the Federal Government and the cantons up until mid-2024. After that, the COVID vaccination was only free of charge for ‘particularly vulnerable’ people: people aged 65 and over and people aged 16 and over with a chronic illness or Trisomy 21.

Post-COVID-19 Condition

Some COVID-19 sufferers continued to display symptoms such as fatigue, shortness of breath and cognitive impairment many weeks after infection. The prolonged effects of a COVID-19 infection were labelled ‘’Post COVID-19 Condition‘’ by the WHO, and often colloquially referred to as Long COVID. Women have been more frequently affected by the long-term consequences of a COVID infection than men. In Switzerland, it is estimated that around 200,000 people were affected to varying degrees of severity.

The ability of some of those affected to work was limited and threatened to remain so. Initially, employees were compensated by their employer in the form of continued salary payments if the employer had daily sickness benefits insurance. This covered 80% of the insured salary for 720 days. In the event of prolonged loss of earnings, the FOPH recommended registering for the disability insurance (IV). Entitlement to an IV pension was only examined after the IV had endeavoured to reintegrate the employee through resistance training, retraining or job coaching. Disability insurance pensions could, however, only be drawn after a one-year incapacity to work of 40% and six months after the IV registration.

In 2021, 1777 cases involving COVID-related complications were recorded by the Disability Insurance Fund, compared to 1914 cases in 2022, with only some of these being cases of Long COVID. Of those reported, 38% were awarded benefit, a third were supported by an occupational integration measure, and between 3% and 4% received a pension.

It was difficult for those affected by post-COVID-19 to receive IV benefits, as no laboratory values or X-rays could objectively substantiate the subjective perception of those affected. The Long COVID Schweiz Association fought, among other things, for Long COVID to be recognised as a medical condition and for those affected to be granted a pension from the IV more easily. The Federal Social Insurance Office (FSIO) justified the high proportion of rejected benefit applications and the high proportion of integration measures, in contrast to the low pension awards, with the fact that many Long COVID sufferers were able to regain employment with good medical care and IV-supported integration.

With the controversies surrounding the treatment and therapy of Long COVID, the Federal Council emphasised in 2021 that funding for the treatment and rehabilitation of Long COVID sufferers was guaranteed, because the costs were covered by compulsory health insurance (OKP). On 21 September 2023, the FOPH published nationwide guidelines on the diagnosis and treatment of Long COVID sufferers. In a 2023 report, the Federal Council emphasised that there was a broad network of drop-in centres for Long COVID sufferers in Switzerland.

Votes on the COVID-19 Act

The COVID-19 Act of 25 September 2020, together with the Epidemics Act, formed the basis for health policing measures in connection with the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic and for measures to mitigate the negative economic and social consequences. The law stipulated that the Federal Council could continue and adapt the necessary measures from the ordinances and issue new measures. The law was amended several times. Following optional referendums, votes on the COVID Act were held in June 2021 and November 2021, in which the COVID Act was approved by 60% and 62% respectively. In a third vote in June 2023, a clear majority (62%) also voted in favour of the bill. Opponents of the federal measures (the ‘’Freunde der Verfassung‘’ and ‘’Mass-voll‘’ associations) had launched the referendum in each of the cases.

Revision of the Epidemics Act

In November 2023, the Federal Council opened consultations on the revision of the Epidemics Act in order to improve the general conditions for dealing with future pandemics. The partial revision should enable the cantons and the Federal Government to enact preventive measures. A better division of competences between the cantons and the Federal Government is also to be given a special place in the new Epidemics Act.