Category: Feature Stories

Two novel variants (mutations) of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus have spread massively in the UK and South Africa in recent weeks. Meanwhile, both mutations have also been detected in COVID-19 infected persons in Austria. What does this mean for the protective effect of already approved vaccines? What do we know about the corona mutations from the UK?Since the fall of 2020, the so-called variant B.1.1.7 of the coronavirus has been spreading in the United Kingdom. The mutation has now established itself in all parts of the UK, where it accounts for…

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A broad majority of people feel threatened by climate change, according to an international survey. Nearly two-thirds of the world’s 1.2 million respondents in 50 nations said the world faces a climate emergency, according to a report released Wednesday by the U.N. Development Program (UNDP) and Britain’s Oxford University. They fear increasing heat waves, droughts, torrential rains and storms. This survey, the largest ever conducted by the United Nations, polled people of different age groups, where more than half of the world’s population lives. According to the researchers, the results…

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The new variants of the coronavirus are spreading in more and more countries: As the World Health Organization (WHO) announced yesterday, the coronavirus mutation initially registered in Great Britain has now been detected in 70 countries. That was ten countries more than a week earlier. The WHO also recorded a larger distribution area for the mutant initially detected in South Africa. The number of affected countries rose by eight to 31 within a week. For the mutation that first appeared in Brazil, the WHO now stated that eight countries were…

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Austrians’ attitudes toward Corona vaccination have changed in recent months. According to a survey, just under half of respondents currently want to be vaccinated “as soon as possible.” According to a recent survey of 1,500 people, the willingness of people in Austria to be vaccinated in January is again significantly higher than it was last time. After a decline in October and December 2020, when only just under a third said “I will have myself vaccinated as soon as possible,” the current figure is 47 percent, which is even higher…

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Around the world, economic inequality threatens to worsen in all countries at the same time due to the Corona pandemic. The organization Oxfam published its inequality report on Monday, stating that billionaires continue to profit “despite the pandemic,” while the world’s poorest continue to be left behind. Oxfam published the report on the occasion of the start of the World Economic Forum, which is taking place for the first time completely digitally instead of in Davos. For the report, the organization had nearly 300 economists from 79 countries surveyed. According…

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Early in the pandemic, tests were conducted to see if existing drugs for other diseases could help against Covid-19: Remdesivir, for example, which was originally developed to treat Ebola, or hydroxychloroquine, which is effective against malaria. The anti-inflammatory dexamethasone, one of the drugs given to former U.S. President Donald Trump during his Covid-19 illness, is also among them. However, none of these therapies has yet brought the really big success. The search for an effective antiviral agent to treat the disease caused by Sars-CoV-2 continues accordingly. A discovery by bioinformaticians…

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US health authority: Ten anaphylactic shocks reported after administration of four million vaccine doses. Severe allergic reactions to the US company Moderna’s Corona vaccine are “rare,” according to the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC). After administration of more than four million doses of the vaccine, so-called anaphylactic shocks occurred in only ten of the vaccine recipients, the CDC announced Friday (local time). None of the allergic reactions resulted in death, it said. The CDC based its assessment on documentation of a total of 4,041,396 vaccine doses administered between Dec.…

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The CoV pandemic widens the effect of child poverty. One third of children worldwide no longer have access to education as a result of the pandemic – with fatal consequences, warns Caritas on the occasion of World Education Day tomorrow. “Even if children are not counted among Corona’s high-risk group, they will have to bear the long-term consequences of school closures, malnutrition and poverty,” Caritas President Michael Landau said at an online press conference in Vienna. The pandemic is causing educational gaps and impacting the lives of every child worldwide,…

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A study now suggests that not only singing or coughing produce many dangerous aerosols – the same is true for simply talking. A conversation without a mask – in Corona times it can be a dangerA conversation without a mask – in Corona times, that can mean danger Aerosols play a crucial role in the spread of the Sars-CoV-2 pathogen. They are created when people breathe, cough, sneeze – but also when they talk or sing. And they carry the virus, so to speak, helping it to spread. Larger droplets…

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