Swiss close bars, venues, restaurants

BERN — The Swiss government is ordering the closure of restaurants, bars, cultural venues and sports facilities next week because of increasing coronavirus cases.

The government says the closures, which start Tuesday, are necessary as “hospitals and health care workers have been under extreme pressure for weeks and the festive period increases the risk of an even more rapid rise in cases.”

The 7-day rolling average of daily new cases in Switzerland has risen over the past two weeks from 43 cases per 100,000 people on Dec. 3 to 50 on Thursday.

The government is restricting the number of people who can be in stores, which must close after 7 p.m. and on Sundays and public holidays.

The federal government left it to Switzerland’s 26 cantons (states) to decide whether to close ski facilities. Their operation has raised concerns in some of Switzerland’s neighbouring countries.