At its meeting on 28 October, the Federal Council agreed a further series of national measures to combat the rapid spread of the coronavirus. The aim of the measures is to sharply reduce the level of contact between people.

The Swiss federal government wants to assure members of the Swiss public rapid access to COVID-19 vaccines. Given that it is still not clear which vaccines will ultimately prevail, the government is taking a diversified approach. It has now signed an agreement with UK pharmaceuticals company AstraZeneca and the Swedish government for the delivery of up to 5.3 million doses of vaccine. The Swiss public will therefore gain access to a further COVID-19 vaccine - provided it successfully passes the clinical trial phase and is approved by Swissmedic.

Tracing, testing, isolation, quarantine - these measures take centre stage in the new subcampaign of the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) to contain the new coronavirus. The campaign is aimed at the general population. With a series of themes, the FOPH intends to motivate young people in particular, breaking new ground in the process: the campaign now extends to forums such as Tinder and gaming platform twitch.tv.

At its meeting on 12 August, the Federal Council took the decision to re-allow events for more than 1000 people from 1 October. Strict protective measures will apply and the events will have to be authorised by the cantons, taking into account the local epidemiological situation and their contact tracing capacity. The Federal Council thereby intends to ensure that the epidemiological situation in Switzerland does not deteriorate. At the same time, this careful reopening step takes into account the needs of society and the economic interests of sports clubs and cultural venues.

At an extraordinary meeting on 18 October, the Federal Council introduced several further national measures to combat the rapid rise in coronavirus infections. From Monday, 19 October spontaneous gatherings of more than 15 persons are not permitted in public.

Switzerland commits to promoting a global solution for the equitable distribution of Covid-19 vaccines. The COVAX initiative led by GAVI, CEPI and the World Health Organisation (WHO) aims at providing some two billion doses of vaccines. On 18 September 2020, Switzerland confirmed its participation in the COVAX initiative to secure vaccines for twenty per cent of its population.

At its meeting on 11 September, the Federal Council decided on the quarantine rules for persons entering Switzerland from neighbouring countries: only those regions of neighbouring countries where the infection rate is over the limit will be added to the list of countries and areas with an increased rate of infection, not the entire country.

The federal government has signed a reservation agreement with the Swiss company Molecular Partners for a therapeutic agent against the new coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2). If the drug successfully passes clinical trials and is approved for the market, Switzerland will receive priority access. The clinical trials are planned for autumn 2020.