Category: Austrian News

After the severe weather week, it has become calmer. But the clear sky brings the extreme cold. In a community in Lower Austria, -24.7 degrees were measured. At the start of the semester break in Vienna and Lower Austria, the country experienced a proper cold shock. The widespread frosty temperatures continued the night to Tuesday. Until the morning hours, no measuring station recorded plus degrees. The current weather data of the UWZ show this. The municipality Schwarzau im Freiwald in the Lower Austrian Waldviertel reached the absolute top for the…

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And again, a new scam: a supposed mail from the post office is about alleged shipping costs. The police are alarmed. Importance: high and insistent subject: “You still have to pay shipping costs.” The message that lands in mailboxes these days does not miss its mark. The mail itself is adorned with the Post logo. The text says that a shipment is being processed. To receive it, you still have to pay the package costs. It goes on to say, “Click the button below now to complete your payment. Only…

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For the past two weeks, Corona numbers have been rising again. The growth is driven by the Omicron variant XBB.1.5 among a certain age group. “XBB.1.5 is the dominant line in Austria with 26 percent,” molecular biologist Ulrich Elling noted on Twitter. This means that the highly contagious super-variant has once again gained ground but is not alone in driving the current infection incidence in Austria: The related line CH.1.1 is also currently causing more infections, explains the researcher from the Austrian Academy of Sciences. New infections already climbed back…

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According to Geosphere Austria, the coming week should bring sunny and cold winter weather. On Monday, some widespread cloud fields will move through from the northeast, and the sun will not appear more often until the afternoon. However, it will remain precipitation-free in most regions, only in the far west; some snowflakes could appear again towards evening and in the night to Tuesday. Daytime highs are minus four to plus four degrees. Sunny, wintry and cold weather in the new weekTuesday will be a calm and sunny winter day. Only…

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With the end of June, all Corona special provisions will fall – including the mask obligation in vulnerable settings. Whether this is good? The government has presented the roadmap for the end of the Corona measures. In the Austrian Parliament on Wednesday, the path back to “normality” was set: April 30 marks the end of mandatory FFP2 masks in hospitals, nursing homes and other vulnerable areas. Many of the patients belong to the risk group. It is unclear whether there will be a separate regulation to protect them. One thing…

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The government’s announcement to phase out all Corona measures by the end of June is understandable for virologist Andreas Bergthaler – even if questions about protecting vulnerable groups and Long Covid have not yet been sufficiently resolved. The announcement that monitoring will nevertheless be continued is positive. “In the case of PCR samples, Austria will carry out at least 1,500 whole-genome sequencings per week in the future, thus fulfilling the recommendation of the European authorities,” the health ministry said Wednesday. “That would be a lot and also internationally herzeigbar,” the…

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Wiener Linien is using the semester break and weekends for important modernizations. This involves renewing around 1,000 meters of streetcar tracks in Vienna. Since 2014, Vienna’s oldest subway line, the U4, has been undergoing extensive refurbishment. So far, signal boxes have already been replaced, tracks and track beds renewed, and stations and tunnel ceilings refurbished. Wiener Linien is taking advantage of the Vienna semester vacations to renew several 43-year-old points along the line, including wooden sleepers. For this reason, the U4 will not be able to run between Karlsplatz and…

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The government has presented the roadmap for the end of the Corona measures. Vienna lines’ roadmap still includes strict mask checks. In the Council of Ministers on Wednesday, the way back to “normality” was determined: As of April 30, the FFP2 mask obligation in hospitals, nursing homes and other vulnerable areas will end. The so-called “Freedom Day” is to be celebrated on June 30. This is because all special provisions for Corona will expire on that day: Sars-CoV-2 will no longer be a reportable disease. In Vienna, great uncertainty still…

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In Vienna and Lower Austria, the first season of the semester break begins today, Friday, for about 450,000 students. Before the start of the week-long vacation, the semester report, the so-called Schulnachricht, is still being distributed. Due to vacation travel, traffic problems are expected on Vienna’s arterial roads from Friday afternoon. By Saturday at the latest, there will likely be delays in western Austria because of the continuing snowfall. On February 10, the remaining federal states will followThe first shift change will occur on February 10, when children and young…

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