Category: Austrian News

Anyone who has looked at the pumps recently will have noticed that fuel prices, whether diesel or gasoline, are suddenly below the magic €1.50 mark. At least at domestic filling stations, this year is coming to a conciliatory end from an inflation perspective. “While overall prices have risen by around eight percent this year, the prices for Eurosuper and diesel are almost nine percent lower on average this year than in the previous year,” calculates the VCÖ. What has remained the same: Eurosuper was again cheaper to fill up with…

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Many people are familiar with the situation: Christmas presents are often only bought at the last minute on the last Saturday of shopping. Apparently, there are more deadline junkies in Austria than previously known: Because over a million climate bonus vouchers are set to expire at the end of the year. There is not much time left to redeem them. Between 250 (under 18-year-olds) and 500 euros (adults) in climate and anti-pollution bonuses were available in 2022. In most cases, the payment was made directly to the recipient’s account. However,…

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Over 100,000 Austrians’ e-cards will be blocked in January 2024 because they lack a photo! But there are exceptions. The e-card in Austria has been changed for four years now, from an e-card without a photo to an e-card with a photo! However, the deadline is now, and e-cards without a photo will be blocked in mid-January 2024. But not for everyone, “Heute” reported. Certain people, such as young people, the elderly, and people with a higher level of care, are allowed to keep their e-cards even without a photo.…

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There will be no white Christmas this year; the upcoming long weekend will be mostly mild and snow-free. Only the wind will be stormy over the holidays. Weather experts are expecting temperatures of up to 15 degrees in eastern Austria. Saturday will start mostly cloudy and rainy in places throughout Austria. Quite stormy winds will spread across the west. The snow line will be between 1000 meters in the west and initially 600 meters in the central mountains and the Mühlviertel. Temperatures will climb to a maximum of ten degrees.…

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Fraud involving fake police officers has risen sharply in Austria in recent years. As the Christmas holidays, in particular, are used for such acts, Interior Minister Gerhard Karner warned at a press conference in Vienna on Tuesday that if a police officer stands in front of your door and demands money or valuables, they are “100 percent fake”, and you should contact the police immediately.In 2022 and 2023, the authorities registered 1,572 attempts across Austria by fake police officers to take money or valuables from their victims. The perpetrators succeeded…

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A total of 52,338 people insured with the ÖGK health insurance fund were off sick with COVID-19 in the previous week (week 50). This is just over 25 percent more than the 41,690 cases in the previous week—a new high. In addition to the coronavirus sickness figures, the number of people registered as unfit for work with flu-like infections at ÖGK rose from 90,405 to 102,274 in the previous week. According to this data, there were 888 cases of “real” flu, i.e., influenza (week 49: 568). In total, more than…

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According to the WWF, Austria alone produces around one million tons of food waste annually—over 100 kilogrammes per person. The NGO expects even more food waste at Christmas. The WWF warns of food waste and its consequences before the Christmas holidays. “During the Advent and Christmas seasons and around the turn of the year, we place a particularly heavy burden on the environment and climate. Careful handling of valuable food can significantly contribute to sustainable holidays,” said Dominik Heizmann, WWF expert for sustainable nutrition, in a press release published on…

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The police consider December 24 the day with the highest number of burglaries in Austria yearly. The Federal Criminal Police Office, therefore, warns people to be vigilant around the holidays and “use common sense.” “We have around 15 percent more burglaries at dusk on this day than on normal December days,” says Hans-Peter Seidl, from the Burglary Unit at the Federal Criminal Police Office. There are around 25 burglaries at dusk every dayAccording to Seidl, there are currently around 25 daily break-ins throughout Austria. Each season (November, December, January), the…

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For weeks, Austria has been in the middle of a coronavirus wave that has never been seen before on this scale. Around 40,000 sick days due to the virus were reported to the Austrian Health Insurance Fund last week. Hospital admissions have increased by over 30 percent within a week, and the viral load curve in wastewater has reached a level never seen before. The creeping wave was triggered by the XBB lines. In the meantime, however, another variant has taken over and is likely to dominate the incidence of…

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