Category: Feature Stories

According to the UN World Food Programme (WFP), which is based in Rome, the coronavirus pandemic threatens to increase the number of famines. 149 million people are currently suffering from acute hunger, said the organization’s Assistant Executive Director Ute Klamert in an interview with “Welt am Sonntag”, as Kathpress reported. There were reliable indications that this number could rise to 270 million through Covid-19. In total, 690 million people worldwide do not have enough food. No school meals because of lockdownsThe effects of the pandemic have already become apparent, according…

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Virologist Florian Krammer explains in the Ö3- Programm “Frühstück bei mir” on Sunday morning how safe the new corona vaccination is and when we would no longer need to wear mask. This week, the corona vaccine from Biontech and Pfizer in Great Britain was the first Covid 19 vaccine to be approved in Europe. The vaccination campaign is scheduled to start in Austria in January 2021. For the virologist Florian Krammer, this is a first, big step towards normality: “The masks will probably be able to fall in late spring.”…

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Although one has already become accustomed to the use of mask, however, again and again uncertainties arise when wearing it. The World Health Organization has now specified the rules and takes a clear position in a new recommendation.Should you tie your mask in your wrist and also wear a mask in your own home? The World Health Organization (WHO) now provides answers to these questions in a rule paper dated December 1. Most recently, the WHO issued recommendations in June on the compulsory use of masks. Mask on wrist hygienically…

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In an online survey by Makam Research GmbH among 622 Austrians aged 20 and older, eight out of ten respondents saw increasing fear in the population and loneliness among the people. Three quarters feared the increase in mental illness. Three out of four identified a rising tendency for the state to control people through Corona, 73 percent felt themselves and their fellow men increasingly restricted in their own freedom. “Every second person recognizes a rising egoism of the people as an accompanying effect of Corona,” said a broadcast by Makam.…

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According to the United Nations, the long-term consequences of the pandemic could bring the number of people living in extreme poverty to more than one billion by 2030. However, this development could still be averted, according to a study published today by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). The paper outlines three possible future scenarios: In the worst case, more than 200 million additional people would suffer from extreme poverty by 2030 – and thus more than one billion worldwide. In the “basic scenario”, the figure would be 44 million…

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So far, the corona crisis has had no effect on the general life satisfaction of Austrians. This is shown by the preliminary data of a current EU study. So far, the corona crisis has had no effect on general life satisfaction. This was reported by Statistics Austria on Tuesday, citing preliminary data from a current EU study (EU-SILC 2020). No concrete data were mentioned. In last year’s study, Austrians had given their life satisfaction an average of 8 out of 10 points, only Finns and Irish were more satisfied. Crisis…

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The European Medicines Agency (EMA) wants to decide already in few weeks on a permission recommendation for two CoV vaccines, as the agency communicated on Tuesday. After the US pharmaceutical group Moderna, the German company Biontech and the US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer have now also applied for approval of their vaccine in the EU. The EMA must now examine the applications, by 29 December at the latest a result for the Biontech Pfizer vaccine should be available, by 12 January for that of Moderna. The final decision will be made…

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After the US pharmaceutical company Moderna, the German company Biontech and the US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer have now applied to the European Medicines Agency (EMA) for approval of their coronavirus vaccine in the EU. The conditional marketing authorization application was submitted yesterday, Biontech and Pfizer announced today. The EMA must now review the applications. It is not clear how long this will take. If the EMA recommends a conditional approval, the vaccine could still be used in December, Biontech announced. The final decision will be made by the EU Commission,…

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Disasters, conflicts, climate change and now the corona virus have plunged millions of people into misery. Famines even threatened, warned UN emergency aid coordinator Mark Lowcock. The UN expects that next year more people will need help and support than ever before: a total of 235 million people, an increase of 40 percent within one year. A year ago the figure was 168 million, the year before 146 million people. Next year, the UN wants to help 160 million people in 56 countries. The others are taken care of by…

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