Category: General Interest

No end to the period of good weather in sight: According to the Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics (ZAMG) forecast, the weather-dominating high will not be broken down until next week. Friday: Cloudless skies to start the weekend Today, Friday, high air pressure will continue to dominate the weather in Austria. The sun will shine most of the time and from a largely cloudless sky in almost all parts of the country. Only a few spring clouds will appear over the Alpine peaks in the day. A few unproductive…

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This week, the Corona traffic light shines dark red in nearly all of Austria. Also, this week the Corona traffic light shows the usual color: dark red. Except for Tyrol, the risk number has increased everywhere. The orange zone of still high risk seems challenging to reach the moment. This is because cases have gone up in eight provinces in the past two weeks. Vienna has the most substantial Corona increase with 18 percent. Nevertheless, the risk figure, which includes the age of the affected person and vaccination status in…

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The US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) expects the Omikron subvariant BA.2, which is spreading in Europe, to become dominant in the US in the foreseeable future. This sub-variants’ share of coronavirus variants nationwide has risen to 35 percent, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said at a briefing with journalists yesterday. “We expect it to become the predominant variant in the coming weeks.” In parts of the Northeast, she said, that is already the case. At the same time, Walensky pointed to a drop in the numbers of coronavirus infections, hospital…

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From April, symptom-free people will only be allowed to take five free PCR tests. Should one hoard gargle tests? After much back and forth, there was finally a decision on 15 March: The new health minister Johannes Rauch announced the provisional test strategy. Symptom-free people are only allowed five free PCR tests per month. The unlimited number of free gargle tests will no longer exist at the end of March. In addition, each person is allowed to take five free antigen tests per month. The only exception is that those…

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The government has abolished the quarantine for contacts, but measures have to be tightened at the same time. As of Monday, contact persons of someone infected with Corona no longer have to be quarantined, the government has also relaxed the previous regulation for all people without complete immune protection, so the ten-day domestic isolation falls even for the unvaccinated. No quarantine Instead, the new Health Minister Johannes Rauch has issued so-called “traffic restrictions.“ Those affected are now allowed outside but must wear FFP2 masks – even in the open air.…

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Spring is not only here astronomically: according to the ZAMG forecast, Austria is in for a sunny and mild week. Temperatures may even rise above 20 degrees. Monday will be sunny and primarily cloudless; only in the southwest may there be some fog in the morning, but it will dissipate soon. The wind will be light to moderate from east to south. Early temperatures will be minus eight to plus three degrees, daytime highs eight to 18 degrees, with the highest values in the west. On Tuesday, the sunny and…

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Fourteen thousand five hundred refugees from Ukraine have been registered in Austria. This was announced by the Ministry of the Interior this morning. In Vienna alone, 1,000 persons were registered yesterday, and 2,500 nationwide. It should be noted that the actual registration process has only been underway for precisely one week. As a result of the registration, an ID card for displaced persons can be issued. This, in turn, is a prerequisite to working in the Austrian labor market and serves as a travel document. There are currently 40 registration…

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The number of people fleeing due to war at home and abroad continues to rise. 3.4 million have already left the country. According to UN figures, the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine has already forced around ten million people to flee their homes. These people have fled to other places within Ukraine or outside the country, the head of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Filippo Grandi, wrote on the short message service Twitter on Sunday. According to the UNHCR, almost 3.4 million people have fled the war…

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In Austria’s 3,000 Roman Catholic parishes, members of the parish councils are elected today. 4.3 million Catholics aged 16 and over are eligible to vote. The size and composition of the bodies that help shape and organize parish processes vary greatly. The Catholic Bishops’ Conference recently emphasized the importance of this body and called for participation in the election. At last count, around 45,000 people belonged to parish councils throughout Austria, 28,000 as elected members. The dioceses cannot come up with concrete results of the parish council elections on Sunday.…

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