Category: Austrian News

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…

Read More

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…

Read More

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…

Read More

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…

Read More

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…

Read More

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…

Read More

Health Minister Johannes Rauch states that medication and vaccination should be available free of charge. Tests are also to remain free for symptomatic people. In a background interview Tuesday, Rauch and senior Health Ministry officials said patients with symptoms would go to the doctor as usual, get tested, and get appropriate medication in case of Corona infection. How the vaccination campaigns will be rolled out is unclear because everyone has different immune situations (a mix of vaccinations and infections). Therefore, corona vaccinations cannot simply be appended to seasonal flu vaccinations.…

Read More

The mask requirement in vulnerable areas such as hospitals and nursing homes will end on April 30, 2023.All measures (mandatory masking, free testing, vaccination centers, etc.) will end throughout Austria on June 30, 2023.In Vienna, the mask requirement in pharmacies and public transport will remain in place until the end of February. Tests and vaccinations should continue to be available in ordinations and other health facilities. That is to be negotiated in the coming weeks, he said.Health Minister Johannes Rauch and Constitutional Minister Karoline Edtstadler heralded the end of the…

Read More

The cost of school supplies is becoming a challenge for many parents in times of inflation. A 150-euro bonus is designed to help. The cost of children’s education is rising. Many parents don’t know what to do because of extremely expensive energy, high rent prices, and high credit installments. While the federal government has already launched a variety of subsidies and bonus payments, there is also a package of measures from the state of Upper Austria. For example, the subsidies for heating and energy costs for low-income households have been…

Read More