Month: July 2021

Surprise on Wednesday for all Vienna annual ticket holders: their Öffi card is valid as a ticket in six cities this summer. Take the 1er Bim along the Ring past the Opera House, City Hall or Parliament, the bus line 25 to the Salzburg Water Games in Hellbrunn, the streetcar lines to Linz’s Hauptplatz, the streetcar line 7 for an ice cream in Graz’s Herrengasse, in Innsbruck the line J to the Patscherkofel or the line 10 to Klagenfurt’s lido to jump comfortably into Lake Wörthersee without parking problems. All…

Recent images from Europe are enticing: well-filled soccer stadiums, people on sandy beaches or at music events. Far away sometimes seem the difficult pandemic months. But it is not that simple. Due to the far-reaching relaxation during the vacation season and the more contagious delta variant of the coronavirus, the number of infections is gradually rising again in some places. Although this was expected and accepted by many experts, some of the figures nevertheless cause disbelief. The Seychelles are at the top of the table with the highest current seven-day…

Vienna – So now it’s official what experts had predicted – and it happened even faster than thought: according to the new data from the Ages, the delta variant determines the covid infection incidence in Austria. Sequencing for the 25th calendar week (through June 27) shows that of the 421 samples examined so far in which the alpha, beta, gamma and delta variants were detected, the delta variant already accounted for 234. That is 55.6 percent. In 186 samples, the alpha mutation, which had been dominant for months, was detected.…

Even in vaccination pioneers like Israel and the UK, the mutation is catching on. Still, vaccinations are the most important tool in the fight against a new wave. More than 90 percent of cases in the U.K. in the last four weeks have been due to the delta variant. However, unlike previous waves, case numbers appear to be decoupling from deaths and hospitalizations. Figures from Israel show positive effect of vaccinationThe reason for the rise of delta variant infections is likely to be that although double vaccination does not fully…

Several Austrians faced fines as they crossed the border into Slovenia on their way home from Croatia. A warning against alternative routes close to the border, for example via rural roads, now comes from ÖAMTC. Crossing the border away from international border crossings could result in a fine of up to 1,200 euros per person for “illegal entry.” “Time and again it happens that travelers, in order to escape traffic jams, do not use an international border crossing – but another one, which, however, is only permitted for Slovenians,” explained…