Category: Feature Stories

Some people still don’t believe that a mouth and nose protector is a sensible way of preventing the spread of the novel corona virus – although US researchers suspect that the mask has a much more far-reaching effect than previously thought: Scientists at the University of California think that this accessory, which is unpopular with many people, could lead to milder progressions or even immunization. The mask exposes the wearer to a lower viral load, which the body can learn to deal with, according to the researchers’ theory. Mouth and…

Read More

Cardinal Christoph Schönborn has been Archbishop of Vienna for 25 years – and could stay that way for a while. After Austria’s highest ranking Catholic clergyman reached retirement age in January and submitted his resignation, the Vatican extended his term of office indefinitely. Since taking office, Schönborn has been accompanied by crises in his church time and again. In church circles, Schönborn is considered cosmopolitan and intellectual. His almost impudent way of proclaiming the truths of faith impresses even liberal critics of the Dominican, who comes from a noble family…

Read More

Because of the increasing number of infections, Switzerland has put Vienna on the list of corona risk areas. As of next Monday, a quarantine obligation will apply to travellers from Vienna, as the news agency Keystone-SDA reported on Friday. In addition to the Austrian capital, the British Virgin Islands, the Czech Republic, and certain areas in France were added to the list. The current Swiss risk list includes more than 50 countries and territories. The rest of Austria is not affected by the measure. Switzerland only puts more regions, but…

Read More

According to a study by the Berlin Charité hospital, rail drivers are not exposed to any increased risk. An examination of 600 train attendants with regular customer contact in IC and ICE trains of the German Railways showed that they do not bear a greater Covid risk than their colleagues who work as train drivers or in the workshop. This was announced by the Berlin Charité and Deutsche Bahn on Wednesday. Antibodies were detected slightly less frequently in train conductors in long-distance traffic than in employees without customer contact. “We…

Read More

9 September 2020 – The pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca has stopped the clinical trial of its CoV vaccine as a precaution after one of the participants experienced health problems. This is a routine measure for such cases, the British company announced in the night to today. “In large test series, diseases occur randomly, but must be investigated by an independent party to verify this thoroughly. AstraZeneca will speed up the investigation so that the approval process for the vaccine is delayed as little as possible, the company said. The ultimate goal…

Read More

More than 400,000 people in the European Union die prematurely every year as a result of air pollution. This is the conclusion of a report by the European Environment Agency (EEA), which was published in Copenhagen on Tuesday. The report analyses data on the impact of the environment on the health and well-being of Europeans.According to the report, air pollution is still the biggest environmental threat to health in Europe. In 1990, however, the number of premature deaths caused by air pollution was still one million. Noise pollution, which leads…

Read More

The international pharmaceutical group AstraZeneca plans to launch a coronavirus vaccine by the end of the year. This vaccine is to be available worldwide “at cost price”, as the company’s boss, Pascal Soriot, told the French radio station RTL. One unit is to be sold for 2.50 euros.“Our goal is to make the vaccine available to all people,” Soriot said. The company hopes to produce a vaccine by the end of the year. “Maybe a little earlier if all goes well,” Soriot added. Promising test resultsOnly on Monday, a study…

Read More

The first worldwide COVID-19 forecast predicts that 1.9 million people will die of corona by the end of the year. The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington School of Medicine has for the first time made a worldwide corona prognosis – the shock result: 1.9 million more people will die from the virus by January. The worst month will be December – experts expect 30,000 corona deaths per day. “While these first global forecasts are discouraging, they also provide a signpost for the fight…

Read More

Those affected should be able to defend themselves quickly, inexpensively and easily if they become victims of hate mailings. That is the goal of the new law package against hate in the net, which the present government presented after long negotiations. The package includes a fast-track judicial procedure against hate mailings, strict rules for online platforms in dealing with them and the new criminal offence of “upskirting”.People are insulted, threatened or find compromising images of themselves on the Internet: it should be easier for people affected by this to defend…

Read More