Category: Feature Stories

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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A new Covid-19 simulator makes the aerosol dispersion in offices, classrooms and gondolas visible and calculates where the risk of infection is high.Already towards the end of the first lockdown, Gerald Dipplinger and his team asked themselves the question: “If we are allowed back into the office – an open-plan office in the Vienna DC Tower – how is it determined how many people are allowed in? 30, 50 or 70 percent of the workforce? The answer – 30 percent – came more from the gut and was not very…

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The corona pandemic also affects Christmas. A survey was conducted to find out how Austrians celebrate Christmas this year. Two thirds want to celebrate Christmas as usualThe Christmas celebration is very meaningful for Austrians, but Corona changes this time noticeably: “73 per cent of the respondents are convinced that the time before Christmas becomes fundamentally different this year. This is particularly evident at the Christmas markets: “If 75 percent still wanted to visit a market in 2019, this figure will shrink to 25 percent in 2020. More than half even…

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The SARS-CoV-2 vaccines, which are about to be approved, have been tested on tens of thousands of people and have comparable efficacy to other vaccines, experts told journalists on Thursday. The SARS-CoV-2 vaccines would also be suitable for older people with concomitant diseases (comorbidities). Pregnant women, cancer patients, people with weakened immune systems and children were not included in the clinical trials and therefore should not be vaccinated, they said. “Vaccinations are a preventive measure and are administered to healthy individuals. Therefore, the requirements for clinical trials are particularly high…

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Chancellor Sebastian Kurz stressed on Thursday that vaccination against the corona virus would be the “game changer in the fight against the pandemic”. “I am glad that we now have certainty that we will start vaccinating in Austria as early as January and can thus return to normality as early as next summer,” he said during a visit to the biotech company Polymun in Klosterneuburg. The next months would be still very challenging, but there is by the vaccine light at the end of the tunnel , repeated the Chancellor…

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