More than 1,000 line up for food in Switzerland amid shutdown
More than 1,000 people lined up on Saturday to get free food parcels in Geneva, underscoring the impact of the coronavirus epidemic on the working poor and undocumented immigrants even in wealthy Switzerland.
The
line of people stretched for more than 1 km (half a mile) outside an
ice rink where volunteers were handing out around 1,500 parcels to
people who started lining up as early as 5 a.m.
"At the
end of the month, my pockets are empty. We have to pay the bills," said
Ingrid Berala, a Geneva resident from Nicaragua who works part-time.
"This is great, because there is food for a week, a week of relief...I
don't know for next week."
Swiss bank UBS has
calculated that Geneva is the second-most expensive global city for a
family of three to live in, behind only Zurich. While average incomes
are also high, that helps little for people struggling to make ends
meet.
Coronavirus cases have been relatively low in Switzerland but mostly attributed to poor and overcrowded housing in cities.
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