Category: General Interest

Today, Saturday, a cold front from the northwest and an Italian low will bring winter weather to Austria. Clouds will predominate throughout the country, and it will rain or snow at times, most minor in the east. The snow line will be between low altitudes and 700 meters above sea level in the northern Alps. In the country’s southern parts, the snow line will drop well below 1,000 meters by the evening. The wind will be light to moderate, in the east and partly on the mountains, brisk from northerly…

Read More

231,600 Ukrainian refugees have entered Austria since the outbreak of war. However, more than 80 percent do not stay in the country. Around 42,000 people have been registered in Austria, giving them displaced person status. According to government figures, approximately 15,000 are in primary care, 10,000 in private accommodation, and 5,000 in private total run by NGOs. The rest, i.e., a good quarter, take care of themselves and do not receive basic care from the state. Ukrainian refugees in Austria with a roof over their headsAs far as accommodation is…

Read More

Complexity researcher Peter Klimek sees the current omicron wave subsiding, so the reduction of free PCR tests is “epidemiologically justifiable.“ However, he expects a new wave – “at the latest” in autumn. As of Friday, there will only be five free PCR tests per month per person (with some exceptions). This will also impact the incidence of infections, says complexity researcher Peter Klimek in the “Wien Heute” interview. “Maybe we won’t necessarily find many fewer cases, but many cases might have been detected a little earlier.” Thus, this measure will…

Read More

The decreasing number of Corona infections is also causing the risk figure in Austria to fall. Nevertheless, all federal provinces and the entire country remain red on the Corona traffic light this week. This means that Austria continues to have the highest risk level everywhere, according to the working document of the responsible commission published by the Austrian Press Agency (APA). Vienna with best risk figure in Austria The best risk figure, which also considers factors such as the age of the patients and vaccination status, is still Vienna with…

Read More

As announced, the testing strategy in Austria will be restructured from 1 April. The necessary decree was published by the Ministry of Health late on Wednesday evening. It comes into force on 1 April and is valid until 30 June for the time being. In principle, every citizen will in the future have five free antigen and PCR tests per month. This limited quota does not apply to suspected cases and vulnerable settings’ residents, visitors, and employees. Initially, these are care facilities, whereby the test will be made available free…

Read More

Every day Austrians lose their Green Pass because their booster expired nine months ago. There is no solution for this yet. A lot has happened since all G-rules fell on 5 March. The green pass was supposed to be banned from everyday life, but now it is still with us for a while. For example, anyone who wants to work in the catering industry in Vienna must show proof of 2G. Those who go on holiday also have to show 3G proof when they return. Otherwise, you will be in…

Read More

After the Easter vacations, schools will only have PCR tests once a week. Education Minister Martin Polaschek (ÖVP) informed schools of this in a letter on Tuesday. Antigen tests will only be provided more if there have been positive cases before. The masking requirement outside of class, on the other hand, will remain in place “until further notice.” Currently, schools are tested three times a week – at least twice using the more informative PCR method and once using an antigen test. After Easter, only one weekly PCR test will…

Read More

As of 1 April, only five free PCR and five rapid antigen tests will be available to every Austrian every month. The regulation is still waiting; some questions are still open. Five tests per month remain free While the provinces are waiting for the Ministry of Health’s decree with concrete specifications, they see the areas responsible for controlling the limitation of PCR tests. In the future, most Laender will rely on the tried and tested throat tests (partly with pharmacy participation), in Styria only on tests in pharmacies. The PCR…

Read More

A separate Omicron-specific vaccination is unnecessary, nor is a fourth CoV vaccination for broad sections of the population, says vaccination expert Ursula Wiedermann-Schmidt from MedUni Vienna. It is not yet possible to say whether this will also apply in autumn – more data is needed for this. This is also the recommendation of the national vaccination committee, “where we said that we do not yet recommend the fourth vaccination for everyone because we do not yet have the data, but for people over the age of 65, and also for…

Read More