Corona: Ministry of Health reassures“not too much cause for concern”

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Following the Vienna Medical Association’s warning of a “catastrophic Corona situation,” the Ministry of Health gave the all-clear on Wednesday. The situation is similar to that of the previous year, and there is “not too much cause for concern,” explained Katharina Reich, Director General for Public Health, on Ö1-Mittagsjournal.

“Both our wastewater monitoring and our dashboard for hospital admissions, as well as our sentinel surveillance—i.e. the information from the practices of registered doctors—show a constant but slow increase in infections. This development is almost the same as in the previous year,” Reich told Ö1.

There are also no signs that the situation in intensive care units could worsen again. According to Reich, the number of admissions due to Covid in recent weeks is “almost in single figures”. “There is no reason to be worried here. We have sufficient capacity,” says the Director General.

More coronavirus infections?
However, infections are likely to rise again in the colder months of the year. “Just like last year. It’s now a matter of becoming aware again when we go indoors more, when life takes place less outside, and also thinking again about how I behave when I feel symptoms of infection,” said Reich.

Influenza and RSV are also not yet an issue, as these diseases only occur in the cold season. “That starts in October, November at the earliest. The peaks, i.e. the highest numbers, are actually recorded here in December, January and February. So we still have time,” says Reich.

“Vaccination call” for whooping cough
With whooping cough, however, the situation is somewhat different. “We have had rising numbers of cases of whooping cough for many years, which is why there is a big call for vaccination: Whooping cough must also be regularly boosted,” appealed the Secretary General.

In response to criticism from the Vienna Medical Association that the federal government no longer pays for Covid tests in doctors’ surgeries, which are necessary in order to be prescribed the drug Paxlovid, Reich saw the ball in the negotiating partners’ court. “In a normal situation, as we have now, in a normal infection situation, social insurance is responsible for financing these things. And it is also up to the social insurance system to decide how this is to be negotiated between the social insurance system and the Medical Association,” said the Secretary General.