Category: Feature Stories

In the face of the omicron wave, more than 30 scientists in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) urge a Europe-wide approach to curb the spread of the new variant. Recently, the impression has arisen in many cases that this is a “mild” variant, the containment of which no longer makes sense. In this context, IHS researcher Thomas Czypionka, who was involved in the appeal, warns against an “inappropriate and even dangerous” fatalism. The paper, published Thursday, brings together researchers from a wide range of scientific fields. From Austria, Czypionka, who…

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The number of Catholics in Austria again declined slightly last year, but remained largely stable. This is the result of the statistics published on Wednesday by the Austrian dioceses. Accordingly, there are 4.83 million Catholics in Austria as of Dec. 31, 2021. In 2020, there were 4.91 million Catholics, according to official statistics from the Austrian Bishops’ Conference. This corresponds to a decline of around 1.6 percent. One reason for this is increased departures from the church last year. Together with the preliminary Catholic figures, the official church statistics for…

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A new international study underscores the importance of third-party vaccination in the fight against the rampant Omicron variant of the coronavirus. According to the study by experts from Boston and Harvard, only those boosted with mRNA vaccines are protected against the new variant, while those who have recovered and been vaccinated are not. Blood samples from 239 people who had been vaccinated with Moderna, Biontech/Pfizer or Janssen were studied. The study found that antibodies after booster with mRNA vaccines were barely weaker against omicron than against the original virus, known…

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The previous record of 17,000 new infections with the corona virus, recorded in Austria on Wednesday, is likely to be pulverized in the coming days. Of it the Covid prognosis consortium is convinced. The experts assume in their current estimate that up to 30,000 new cases per day could be reached soon. At the end of January, a noticeable increase in hospital workloads can also be expected. It is likely that the daily number of cases will exceed 20,000 by the beginning of the coming weeks at the latest. On…

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Unvaccinated are back in the lockdown. After New Year’s Day, this means that the restrictions on exit regulations for shopping, work and leisure imposed with the December lockdown will once again apply to everyone who cannot provide 2-G proof. However, the last crisis summit of the federal government with representatives of the federal states and experts of the Gecko Commission on Epiphany also brought new measures: Since January 11, FFP2 masks have been mandatory outdoors if the distance falls below two meters. Also since 11 January, there have been compulsory…

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The World Health Organization (WHO), citing a projection, warns that more than half the people in Europe could already be infected with Omicron in two months. Omicron represents a tidal wave sweeping across Europe from west to east, adding to the increase in delta numbers that countries had experienced by the end of 2021, WHO Regional Director Hans Kluge said Tuesday at an online press conference in Copenhagen. Rapid spreadOmicron is rapidly becoming the dominant variant in Western Europe and is now spreading to the Balkans, Kluge said. He refers…

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In the original type of the coronavirus Sars-CoV-2, about every thousandth infected person was a so-called superspreader. In the omicron variant, it is even every twentieth to tenth. This is indicated by a Swiss modeling study. According to this study, surgical masks are only rarely sufficient for protection. FFP2 masks, on the other hand, still provide sufficient protection, except in situations with high aerosol production such as singing or loud talking. Scientists led by aerosol expert Michael Riediker, director of the Swiss Center for Occupational and Environmental Health (SCOEH), came…

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The alleged detection of a mixed variant of delta and omicron in Cyprus is probably due to contamination during analysis, according to experts. “These genomes are most likely artifacts,” Richard Neher of the University of Basel (Switzerland), a leading expert on viral variants, explained to Deutsche Presse-Agentur. He said the omicron mutations observed here in a context of delta genome sequences all affect a DNA segment that is often very weak in delta detections and therefore highly susceptible to contamination. Other experts expressed similar views on Twitter, such as WHO…

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The Omicron variant takes the speed of the corona pandemic to a new level. Tactically and communicatively, the next wave is also a huge problem. It’s easy, soon to be two years into the pandemic, to be tempted to describe what’s happening in terms of human morality or even fairness. Isn’t it incredibly mean that now, of all times, when vaccines are available and the vast majority of people are ready to help fight the virus, this new variant emerges? Which is apparently also a “turbo plague,” a version of…

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