Switzerland’s outdated medical reporting system still relies on fax and manual data entry, which has led to a number of confusing mistakes.

On Saturday, it appeared Switzerland had recorded its first child victim of the coronavirus, until the victim was found to be 109 rather than 9. 

The reason? The country’s outdated medical record-keeping system, which relies primarily on fax rather than electronic record-keeping, had recorded that the victim was born in 1911 rather than 2011. 

Over the same week, a similar error saw one 87-year-old victim recorded as being 27 years of age – due to a similar failing. 

Children and young people have been largely unaffected by the virus in Switzerland and elsewhere – meaning that the reports represented a significant departure from the existing data in Switzerland. As at April 29th, there have been just under 1,700 deaths in Switzerland due to the virus – however nobody under the age of 30 has died in Switzerland and only six people between the ages of 30 and 50 have passed away due to Covid-19. 

https://www.thelocal.ch/20200429/nine-year-old-corona-victim-was-actually-109-switzerlands-fax-based-reporting-system-causes-confusion