City Health Councillor Peter Hacker (SPÖ) expects a doubling of new infections in Vienna “in the next one or two days,” he told ORF’s “Wien heute” program in an interview.
“We can expect to see a doubling in the next few days. That’s what I’m counting on. I would be surprised if it’s less,” Hacker said in an interview with ORF Vienna editor-in-chief Oliver Ortner. The reason for this, he said, is the sharp increase in the number of tests due to the return of children to schools or because of the first working day after the vacations.
Affected people fall ill less
The health councilor dismissed claims of “rushing through” the Omicron variation. Hacker emphasized that rules apply in the city of Vienna even in the face of the Omicron variant, such as the mask requirement in certain settings or an upper limit of participants and attendees at events. The city councilor justified the fact that the time of quarantine was reduced in the new variant by the fact that, according to previous observations, those affected are less likely to fall ill.
Hacker cited vaccination as the main reason for the milder courses. The health councillor again emphasized that unvaccinated people had a much higher risk of a severe course. In Vienna, he said, the risk of unvaccinated people ending up in intensive care for a serious illness is currently about 40 times higher.
- source: orf.at/picture: Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
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