Lockdown for vaccinated people ends Dec. 12

In a press conference on Tuesday, Chancellor Karl Nehammer announced that the lockdown for vaccinated people will end on December 12. Further details are not known at this time. Lockdown end in Austria for vaccinated from 12 DecemberAs planned, the lockdown for vaccinated people in Austria will end on December 12. This was announced by Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) at a press conference on Tuesday. For unvaccinated, however, the lockdown continues to apply. It is no longer a question of whether, but how the lockdown will be ended, the Chancellor…

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Vienna’s Christmas markets open on Dec. 13

On Tuesday, Vienna Mayor Michael Ludwig (SPÖ) announced in a press conference how things will continue after the lockdown ends. According to the announcement, Christmas markets in Vienna will also be allowed to open on December 13. Vienna Mayor Michael Ludwig proposes to open gradually after the lockdown from December 13, continuing to focus on security. Ludwig announced this on Tuesday at a media briefing following consultations with a panel of experts on the Corona situation. Christmas markets are also to be allowed to open. Christmas markets should be allowed…

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Number of positive PCR tests at schools continues to fall

The number of positive PCR tests at schools continued to decline last week. According to data from the Ministry of Education and the City of Vienna, 3,089 tests were successful in the week from Nov. 29 to Dec. 3 (week before: 4,022) – and this despite the fact that, after Vienna, Lower and Upper Austria also tested twice instead of once with the more meaningful PCR test for the first time. Of the ministry’s 917,000 “Everything Flushes” tests, 0.19 percent were positive (week before: 0.39). Number of class closures also…

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Wednesday and Thursday bring fresh snow to Austria

After the heavy snowfalls over the weekend in the south of the country, the weather situation calms down only briefly, and winter has our country firmly in its grip. Snow is expected across the country on Wednesday and Thursday. A first front brings some fresh snow on Tuesday, then on Wednesday or Thursday even large amounts of fresh snow announce themselves again. Only towards the weekend the weather calms down again, according to the experts of the Austrian Severe Weather Center. First weak front on TuesdayUntil Monday evening, largely calm…

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Karl Nehammer was sworn in as new Austrian Chancellor

Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen on Monday swore in new Chancellor Karl Nehammer along with the other new ÖVP ministers. He gave the members of the government a mission for the Corona crisis: the government must “come clean to the population”, make fact-based decisions and inform about them in comprehensible, joint communication. “Immediately and together” the government must tackle the “great task” of resolutely combating the pandemic together with its social, economic and human consequences, Van der Bellen urged in a short speech. In this pandemic, one does not…

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Winter weather awaits Austria in the coming week

The week starts with sunshine, which is replaced by snow, fog and rain, and ends with dry and cold, but friendly weather. Today, Monday, the sun shines south of the main ridge of the Alps, but in the north and east the day still starts with residual clouds. In the congestion of the Alps between Vorarlberg and the Mostviertel, it is still snowing at times, but the cloud cover is loosening more and more. Only on the northern side of the Alps between the Upper Austrian lake district and the…

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Study proves protection by FFP2 masks

According to a new study by the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization in Göttingen, the risk of infection when an infected person and a healthy person meet in an indoor space at short distance is a good one per thousand (0.1 percent) when an FFP2 mask is worn correctly. The prerequisite is the correct fit of the FFP2 or KN95 mask, writes the team around Institute Director Eberhard Bodenschatz in the “Proceedings” of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences (“PNAS”). With poorly fitting FFP2 masks, on the other…

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Omicron: Experts developed new tests for corona variant

Roche subsidiary TIB Molbiol has developed three new tests for the new coronavirus variant Omicron. This would allow mutations of this variant to be detected in a differentiated and precise manner, the Basel-based pharmaceutical company announced Friday. The three new test kits are among the first to specify mutations in the recently discovered Omicron variant, according to Roche. Targeted search only when clustering occursVirologist: Omicron variant already spread worldwide before discoveryThis will allow the spread of circulating variants to be assessed, they say. In addition, the impact of therapies, vaccines…

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Situation in Vienna’s hospitals remains tense

Due to the fourth Corona wave, the situation at Vienna’s hospitals continues to be tense. Patients even have to be treated in rehabilitation centers. Operations are also being postponed. Towards the end of the second lockdown week, the number of new Corona infections in Austria continued to fall. Within 24 hours, there were just under 6,738 new infections. But in intensive care units, the number of Corona patients increased by six. Scheduled operations have long been postponed. Daniel Zimpfer, head of pediatric heart surgery at AKH, tells ORF that intensive…

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