Charity supports over a million Swiss residents affected by pandemic

Humanitarian charity Swiss Solidarity has spent CHF40 million ($43 million) in donations on people in Switzerland left in need due to the coronavirus pandemic.

In total, 1.7 million people have been supported, the organisation said on Friday. It has funded around 200 projects, including food banks.

“These figures show the impressive solidarity shown by the Swiss population,” the organisation said in a statement.

Many families and individuals in challenging situations were able to benefit quickly from the support, it added. These included people who had been hard hit financially by the lockdown in spring 2020 and subsequent measures.

The humanitarian arm of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SWI swissinfo.ch’s parent company) collected more than CHF43 million ($47.7 million) in domestic donations last year.

The coronavirus support campaign was launched in March 2020, making it the largest and longest fundraising campaign for the Swiss population since 2005.