Category: Feature Stories

WHO experts warn “virus remains dangerous.” According to data released Tuesday by the World Health Organization (WHO), half a million people worldwide have died from covid since the first warnings about the highly contagious Omicron variant of the Coronavirus in late November, according to WHO representative Abdi Mahamud. Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO expert in charge of Corona, said, “We are still in the middle of the pandemic.” She said many countries had not yet passed the peak of the Omikron wave, which had displaced the previously prevalent Delta variant.…

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Alarming Greenpeace tally: 1.4 billion euros worth of food in Austrian incinerators each year. 1.5 million tons of CO2 are likewise senselessly caused for their production each year. This resulted from the current research of Greenpeace’s environmental protection organization, which was published on Tuesday. The greenhouse gases emitted in this way reached around half of the amount emitted by Austrian air traffic before the pandemic. Sebastian Theissing-Matei, the agricultural expert at Greenpeace in Austria, speaks in this context of an “everyday madness of food waste,” which also shows an enormous…

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The EU has already restricted the use of plastic bags and disposable tableware. But the flood of plastic in the oceans is far from stopped.The environmental organization WWF warns of the dramatic consequences of the increasing plastic waste in the oceans. Plastic pollution has increased exponentially in recent decades, the WWF said, citing a study by the Alfred Wegener Institute in Bremerhaven. For the meta-study commissioned by the environmental organization, the institute evaluated 2592 surveys conducted from the 1960s to 2019. Danger for animalsPlastic waste decomposes in the ocean into…

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People can be exempt from compulsory vaccination for various medical reasons. This is shown by the vaccination obligation regulation, which has been available since Sunday and must be decided on Monday in the National Council. As has been known for some time, pregnant women are not subject to mandatory vaccination, but there may also be exceptions for cancer patients or those living with an autoimmune disease. Below is an overview of who is exempt from mandatory vaccination and who is considered vaccinated. Those who have been vaccinated three times and…

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Gecko says it is prudent to consider a booster with variant vaccines before fall for anyone whose third vaccination was more than six to nine months ago. Gecko, the statewide crisis coordinator, has recommended “embedding Covid-19 into traditional influenza surveillance structures starting in the fall when numbers are low – assuming variants remain similar to current levels.” Then, he said, it makes sense to consider a booster with variant vaccines before the fall for anyone whose third vaccination was more than six to nine months ago, and to apply it…

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In Austria, the coronavirus vaccination will be compulsory starting tomorrow, February 5, 2022. The law was published in the Federal Law Gazette today and will come into force the following day. Prior to this, Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen certified that the “Federal Law on the Obligation to Vaccinate against Covid-19” had come into force in accordance with the Constitution, and Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) countersigned it. The vaccination obligation had been decided on 20 January by the National Council, yesterday also the federal state chamber of parliament agreed…

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According to a new study, the majority of people infected with Omicron were still contagious on the sixth day. Since January 8, infected Austrians and also contact persons have been able to clear themselves by PCR after five days – previously it was ten days. Because of the sharp increase in the number of people infected with the Omicron variant and the resulting loss of manpower, there have been calls from the business community, among others, for the quarantine period to be shortened. Covid crisis coordinator Gecko had advised the…

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One question many people ask is: Do I still need to get vaccinated after getting covid 19? A new study says yes. Protection against omicron Only three contacts with the spike protein lead to good immunity – whether by infection or vaccination and regardless of the order. The antibodies formed are then not only present in sufficient quantity, but they are also able to neutralize new variants of concern (VOCs) such as currently Omicron. Antibody response to coronavirusTwo vaccinations and a booster, one breakthrough disease after two vaccinations, or two…

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Those working scientifically on SARS-CoV-2 are always confronted with unknown factors. But the longer the pandemic continues, the more data becomes available. This is also the case with the currently prevailing omicron wave. But what will come after that? How will this variant spread around the world? And when will the wave level off again? The German star virologist Christian Drosten, for example, in the NDR Corona podcast on February 1, saw the “time for easing has not yet come” and does not expect easing until after Easter. Half of…

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