Intro:

Staff reacted on Tuesday to the news that seven-time Formula One champion Michael Schumacher is now being treated at the local University Hospital in Lausanne.

Script:

Nearly six months after sustaining serious head injuries in a skiing accident, Michael Schumacher has left the French hospital in which he was staying in and was transferred to neighbouring Switzerland to continue his recovery.

Schumacher is now receiving care at Lausanne University Hospital, near the Schumacher family's Swiss home.

A hospital worker believes that this was the reason he was moved.

SOUNDBITE: (English) Vox pop, hospital employee (name not given):

"Yeah, a little bit, because we saw all these cars of different newspapers and TVs. So, of course we discussed a little bit about it. Also because he is living not that far away from Lausanne. So, we thought that is maybe a reason why he came here."

Another believed he needs to be with family to cure and to become himself again.

SOUNDBITE: (English) Vox pop, hospital employee (name not given):

"I think he needs to be alone with his his family and to cure and to take some energy to be himself again. So, I don't understand why everyone is so..."

Schumacher "is not in a coma anymore," his manager, Sabine Kehm, said in a brief statement on Monday, announcing that the German driver had left the Grenoble University Hospital, where he had been treated since his accident on the 29th of December last year.

Kehm gave no further details of his condition or medical outlook, saying only that he would "continue his long phase of rehabilitation".