41,000 civilian protectors deployed since the Corona pandemic

According to the Federal Office for Civil Protection (Babs), since the outbreak of the pandemic, the cantons recorded a growing need for support in the health sector and began to increase the use of civil defense again in the fall of 2021. Therefore, a third national deployment of civil defense personnel occurred since December 10.

41,000 civil defense personnel in action

The Civil Defense was subsequently used mainly for vaccination campaigns and health care support in the area of basic care and logistics. According to the Babs, however, the principle of solidarity was always applied. However, the Civil Defense only provided support when the institutions concerned could no longer manage their tasks with their own resources and to temporarily bridge personnel bottlenecks.

To cope with the pandemic, the Civil Defense had already been deployed since February 2020. The first deployment primarily supported healthcare and nursing staff in hospitals and nursing homes in tasks such as care, triage and access control, and cleaning and disinfection. Emergency hospitals and corona test centers were set up, and assistance was provided with contact tracing and hotlines for the population, as well as transport and logistical services.

Three bids for a total of 41,000 civil defense personnel

In 2020, around 27,000 members of the Civil Protection were deployed for 365,000 service days to deal with the Corona pandemic. By the end of the second Federal Council mission at the end of October, another 12,000 civil defense personnel had been deployed in 2021, providing 167,000 days of service.

In 2022, a further 2,400 civil defense personnel were deployed with 26,000 days of service. In total, from February 2020 to the end of March 2022, around 560,000 days of service were performed by around 41,000 civil defense personnel.

Source: Federal Office for Civil Protection