Category: Feature Stories

Straws, cotton swabs, disposable cutlery – consumers in Austria will have to say goodbye to disposable plastic products. An EU directive from 2019 comes into force tomorrow. However, the articles are not completely off the market for the time being. In all EU member states, all single-use plastic products are to disappear from the market as of this Saturday. This is provided for by an EU directive banning plastic tableware from 2019. The ban, which takes effect on the July 3, 2021 deadline, affects disposable products such as single-use cutlery…

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The vaccines also protect against the delta variant of the coronavirus, but the effectiveness is said to be reduced, just below 90 percent. What does that mean, are 10 percent of those vaccinated unprotected, is each individual 90 percent protected, or does it mean something completely different? While all other corona virus variants are in retreat, the delta mutant (B.1.617.2) is spreading rapidly. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) estimates in its threat report that delta will reach 90 percent across Europe by the end of August.…

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Although Corona relaxations and summer are creating euphoria, WHO has warned against carelessness. The organization fears an impending wave of pandemics in Europe. Relaxations, vacation joys and European soccer championship euphoria are currently brightening the mood in many places. But carelessness is not appropriate in view of the highly contagious coronavirus variant Delta, as WHO Europe pointed out on Thursday. For the first time in ten weeks, the number of new infections is rising again, and without disciplined countermeasures, a new pandemic wave threatens, according to the World Health Organization’s…

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The vacation season is here despite the coronavirus pandemic. With July 1 marking the launch of the EU-wide Green Passport, whose digital Covid certificates are recognized in all 27 EU countries as well as Switzerland, Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein, travel – at least within Europe – is about to get easier ahead of the approaching summer vacations. Many countries, like Austria, have recently relaxed their entry restrictions. Nevertheless, there are still different requirements for entry in the states. Here’s an overview of popular vacation destinations and the rules that apply…

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While the past few days and weeks have been dominated by negative headlines regarding the delta variant, Monday was the first day of positive news from research circles regarding the fight against the coronavirus. According to a new study, mRNA vaccines, such as those from Moderna and Pfizer/Biontech, could provide an immune response from the body for years, preventing corona infections or severe disease progression. Vaccinated individuals who have undergone disease could have lifelong protection in the first place. The findings were published in Nature. Memory cells in lymph nodesThe…

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New data modeling shows the first infections in humans could have occurred as early as October 2019. According to new data modeling, the first human cases of Sars-CoV-2 are likely to have occurred in China between about early October and mid-November 2019. This is confirmed by an analysis presented in the journal PLOS Pathogens. According to the calculation, a date around November 17 is likely, the researchers report. Accordingly, the virus is likely to have spread much faster in the world than known after the first detections. The first officially…

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As of July 1, the day the European Green Passport comes into force, a new entry regulation will also apply to Austria. Persons entering from countries with a low epidemiological risk must provide credible evidence that they have stayed there exclusively within the last ten days. If this evidence is not available, a Covid test must be performed within 24 hours, according to the regulation, which was published late Friday night. Entry from virus variant areas such as the United Kingdom, Brazil, India or South Africa is generally prohibited. However,…

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The “Green Passport”, which was launched in full at the beginning of this week, is enjoying high access rates. So far, a total of around 900,000 certificates have been called up via the health portal gesundheit.gv.at, of which 330,000 and 410,000 calls respectively were made in the last two days, demonstrating the high level of interest in the portal, which can be accessed online. A total of 11.05 million test vaccination or recovery certificates with EU-compliant QR codes have been generated to date. Test results still available via link or…

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According to an analysis by Credit Suisse, the number of dollar millionaires worldwide has continued to grow in the year of the Corona crisis. According to the Swiss bank, the club of the rich grew most in the United States on Tuesday. According to the Global Wealth Report, which Credit Suisse has published annually since 2010, there were almost 56.1 million million dollar millionaires worldwide at the end of last year. That’s a good 5.2 million more than in 2019. By far the most of them live in the U.S.…

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