Lockdown in Ireland to be extended until early April

In Ireland, the coronavirus lockdown is to be extended until early April. There will be “restrictions on a large scale” until Easter, government leader Micheal Martin told public broadcaster RTE today. Since Christmas, restaurants and pubs have been closed in Ireland, and since New Year’s Day, stores for non-essentials have also been closed. Since the beginning of the year, there have been no more face-to-face classes in schools. Reopening schools and construction projects will be priorities when the government reconsiders lockdown measures, Martin said. Ireland had weathered the first two…

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200 positive test at schools in Vienna and Lower Austria

Education Minister Heinz Faßmann (ÖVP) gave a positive assessment on Thursday of the use of the new rapid antigen tests at schools in Vienna and Lower Austria. The acceptance among students and parents was great, only one percent had refused the test. In total, 198 of the 470,000 tests were positive on Monday and Wednesday (75 percent count). At the press conference, epidemiologist Gerald Gartlehner pleaded for the reasons for this low number to be ascertained. In the first two rounds of testing on Monday and Wednesday, Vienna accounted for…

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Number of COVID 19 infections in Austria increase dramatically

Corona numbers continue to rise dramatically in Austria. On Thursday, 1,577 new infections were reported. Corona numbers in Austria remain at a high level. On Wednesday, there were 1,469 new infections, and on Thursday, 1,577 new cases were reported across Austria. In addition, there were 24 deaths. A total of 224,999 tests were performed on Wednesday. So far, there have been 429,139 positive test results in Austria since the pandemic began. 8,138 people have died as a result of Corona disease. 1,513 people are currently in hospital treatment, 265 of…

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Valentine’s Day: Austrians are particularly generous this year

Despite Corona, Austrians are more generous on Valentine’s Day than last year. On average, 72 euros per capita are spent on gifts. The trade is pleased.Valentine’s Day 2021 is just around the corner. Many Austrians are planning to surprise their loved ones with Valentine’s Day gifts this year as well. Together with Mindtake Research and idealo.at, the trade association has analyzed facts and figures on buying behavior in times of the Corona pandemic. Flowers most popular as a gift for Valentine’s Day“On average, 72 euros per capita will be spent…

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USA reports 1.5 million vaccinations per day

The U.S. is making good progress on new President Joe Biden’s goal of reaching 100 million CoV vaccinations in his first 100 days in office. An average of 1.5 million people have been vaccinated daily over the past seven days, Biden’s CoV coordinator Jeff Zients said yesterday. According to the latest figures from the CDC, about 32.9 million Americans have received at least one dose of vaccine so far – and 9.8 million have already received both necessary doses. The 100 million goal had been criticized in part as not…

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Vienna: New test lanes at Ferry-Dusika station and in Oberlaa

The federal capital Vienna continues to massively increase its corona testing capacities: No less than two new test roads go into operation this week, as the office of Health City Councillor Peter Hacker (SPÖ) told the APA. Already from today, Thursday, people can be checked for infection at the Ferry-Dusika station. From Saturday, this is also possible at the Therme Oberlaa, specifically in the parking garage belonging to it. Both new test streets are designed as walk-ins. This means that if the Viennese travel by car, they must park their…

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Over one million Corona tests since Monday

A veritable run on Corona tests has brought the lockdown, which has been relaxed since Monday, along with the start of school in eastern Austria: over one million, exactly 1,096,621 Corona tests were reported by the provinces to the crisis team in the past five days. In total, just under eleven million tests have been carried out in Austria since the start of the Corona pandemic, the Federal Chancellery said. The trend continues to rise sharply. Monday was peak test dayThe enormous influx was caused by the prerequisite of a…

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Germany extends lockdown until March 7

In Germany, the lockdown continues for just under another month. The federal and state governments have decided to extend it to March 7. What was already suspected during the day is now fixed. The Corona lockdown in Germany will be extended until March 7. This was agreed by Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) and the heads of government of the states in their deliberations on Wednesday. Hairdressers are to be allowed to reopen from March 1, subject to conditions, while the states are to decide for themselves whether to open schools…

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How widespread the new variants are

According to WHO, the South African mutant B.1.351, which showed partially lower vaccine efficacy in initial tests, has been confirmed in 44 countries, the Brazilian B.1.1.28 in 15 – both mainly also in Western Europe, but the Brazilian one not yet in Austria. Increased transmissibilityAccording to the World Health Organization, 86 countries worldwide, including Austria, have reported the B.1.1.7 variant, which was first detected in the United Kingdom, and suspected cases were being investigated in several others. In the United Kingdom, the proportion of cases with the mutation among samples…

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