Switzerland Virus Cases Top 10,000

Switzerland on Thursday joined the small group of countries to declare more than 10,000 officially-recorded cases of COVID-19, as it launched plans to start tracking crowd build-ups through mobile phone data

Geneva, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 26th Mar, 2020 ) :Switzerland on Thursday joined the small group of countries to declare more than 10,000 officially-recorded cases of COVID-19, as it launched plans to start tracking crowd build-ups through mobile phone data.

The health ministry said 10,661 people in the Alpine country have tested positive for the new coronavirus -- nearly 1,000 more than a day earlier -- while 161 people have died.

Switzerland, which is among the countries that have conducted most COVID-19 tests per capita, is the fifth country in Europe to pass 10,000 officially-recorded cases.

It follows neighbours Italy, Germany and France, and Spain -- all of which have far bigger populations.

Elsewhere, China, Iran and the United States have also passed the five-figure mark, according to the latest World Health Organization situation report on the global pandemic.

Switzerland's Italian-speaking southern region of Ticino, which borders hard-hit northern Italy, is the worst-affected of its 26 cantons, with 393 cases per 100,000 people.

Around two-fifths of Switzerland's COVID-19 deaths have occurred in Ticino.

The first case of the new coronavirus was confirmed in Switzerland on February 24.

Since then, "91,400 tests have been carried out for COVID-19, of which 14 percent were positive," the Federal Office of Public Health said.