Category: General Interest

The possible tightening and reintroducing protective measures have been a considerable discussion in the health sector during the past days, as the number of COVID infections continues to rise in Austria, including the comeback of the mandatory use of FFP2 masks. At the moment, masks are only compulsory in vital areas throughout Austria. So in the supermarket, in public means of transport, pharmacies and banks. The city of Vienna takes a stricter approach; here, masks are compulsory in all indoor areas, including shops and concerts. And the federal government may…

Read More

So far, about 7,000 people who fled Ukraine because of the Russian attack have sought protection in Austria. They registered here this week, giving them a right of residence and access to the labor market. According to the Interior Ministry, about 150,000 refugees have already landed in Austria, but most of them travel on to other countries, often to relatives and friends. Shortly, refugees will also be transported from Moldova to Austria using an “air bridge.” It is being prepared in cooperation between the Interior and Foreign Ministries and UNHCR…

Read More

Slowly, the responsible Commission must develop a new color because the Corona traffic light is getting more red. According to the committee’s working document published by APA, all federal states show an increasing trend in the number of infections over the past two weeks, which means they are moving further away from the orange zone of high risk. The test-friendly federal capital is still holding up best. Things are slowly getting tight in the normal wards, too. According to the forecast, 18 percent of the beds in Burgenland will already…

Read More

Because coronavirus numbers are rising again worldwide, the World Health Organization (WHO) warns against ending protective measures too soon. These include wearing masks and keeping a distance. If the standards were lifted, the virus would have more opportunities to circulate, Maria von Kerkhove, WHO Covid 19 specialist, said today in Geneva. The problem, she said, is that much less testing is now being done worldwide. That makes it harder to monitor the spread of variants, she said. WHO never comments on the coronavirus management of individual countries. It only calls…

Read More

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered Russia to end military violence in Ukraine immediately. On Wednesday, the United Nations’ highest court in The Hague upheld a lawsuit filed by Ukraine against Russia. Ukraine accused Russia of violating the 1948 Genocide Convention and wanted the court to end the violence. The judges and justices were also expected to declare no legal basis for the war. Russia had boycotted the March 7 hearing in the case. Rulings by the UN’s highest court are binding, to be sure. But the court has…

Read More

More than 300,000 people were infected with the CoV virus last week. This puts Austria in the front rank in a European comparison. Only Iceland and Liechtenstein currently have a higher seven-day incidence. More than 300,000 people have been infected with the Coronavirus in this country in the past week. This puts Austria among the absolute frontrunner in Europe. According to the statistics portal Statista, which refers to data from Johns Hopkins University and the Robert Koch Institute, of 46 European countries, only Iceland and Liechtenstein had more officially confirmed…

Read More

The government says goodbye to permanent free tests The federal government is saying goodbye to the permanent free-of-charge testing at the end of March. Instead, these will be limited to a quota of five free PCR tests and five antigen tests per month, said Health Minister Johannes Rauch (Greens) at a press conference on Tuesday: “Anyone who wants to be tested can continue to do so.” It remained open how it continues with the school tests. Rauch referred here to the responsibility of the Ministry of Education. With the “good…

Read More

10-day quarantine for K1 people falls. What the new testing regime will look like 2.3 billion euros were spent in 2020/2021 for the free Corona tests on the part of the state. Remarkably about this, the cost of the vaccines, which the Ministry of Finance puts at 340 million euros. The Federal government has announced an end to the testing strategy in April. ÖVP Finance Minister Magnus Brunner can no longer imagine “free Corona tests for everyone at any time.” As he let it be known over the weekend, Health…

Read More

The German Robert Koch Institute (RKI) has again reported a peak in the 7-day incidence for Germany. The RKI said the value of new CoV infections per 100,000 inhabitants was 1,585.4 this morning. The previous day, the value was 1,543.0. A week ago, the Germany-wide incidence was 1,293.6 (last month: 1,437.5). Germany’s health offices reported 198,888 new CoV infections to the RKI within one day. Experts assume many cases that are not recorded in the RKI data. One reason is the limited capacity of health offices. For example, contacts are…

Read More