Category: General Interest

FFP2 masks have been widely used in everyday life in Austria since the third Corona lockdown was relaxed, and they are mandatory in many public areas. While some question the point of wearing the “Filtering Face Pieces” of protection class 2 outside the health sector from the outset, many people now also use them outdoors, not only at ski lifts or markets and completely without regulation. FFP2 masks outdoors: The fact checkASSERTION: If you really want to protect yourself from corona, you have to wear FFP2 masks outdoors. ASSESSMENT: Not…

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Last week, an 83-year-old woman in Vienna-Döbling became a victim of a trick scam. A fake policeman scared her of alleged burglars and deprived the woman of a six-figure sum of money. Trick fraud: Seven nasty scamsAn 83-year-old woman in Vienna-Döbling fell victim to tricksters pretending to be police officers. Cash and gold, which the woman had at home, in the clear six-figure range is gone. According to police spokesman Marco Jammer, one of the perpetrators called the pensioner, who lives in Grinzing, on February 16 around 14:00 and pretended…

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The world’s largest vaccine maker has hinted that exports of CoV vaccines could face delays. The head of India’s Serum Institute, Adar Poonawalla, wrote on Twitter that his institute had been instructed to “prioritize India’s huge needs and meanwhile balance the needs of the rest of the world.” The company manufactures AstraZeneca’s vaccine under the Covishield name at low prices, among other products. India is often referred to as the “pharmacy of the world.” The world’s second most populous country says it produces about half of the world’s vaccines. India…

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Those who do not agree to the new WhatsApp rules by May 15 can expect serious consequences.WhatsApp originally wanted to introduce its new terms of use as early as February 8. This was followed by massive complaints from users and a million-fold migration to other messenger services. WhatsApp has responded thus setting a new ultimatum: May 15. But what happens to the accounts of users who don’t agree to the new rules, including the controversial data transfer to Facebook, by then? No reading, no writingWhatsApp has now published information about…

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Vienna police are warning of a new scam currently making the rounds on the Internet. The criminals – probably always the same group – have already been successful with the trick twelve times and scammed almost 19,000 euros. Scammers use a clever scam to obtain valuables and turn victims into contributors. The Viennese police warned on Sunday of such crimes. Twelve times the criminals with their trick were already successful, three times it remained with the attempt. The amount of damage is 18,720 euros, the investigators assume a higher number…

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Pfizer/Biontech’s vaccine has nearly 96 percent efficacy after two doses of vaccination, according to new data from Israel. According to the Israeli Ministry of Health last night, two weeks after the second dose of vaccine, 95.8 percent fewer infections were found in vaccinated people than in unvaccinated people. One week after the second dose, the effectiveness was 91.9 percent, according to the report. 4.25 million received first doseAccording to the study, the vaccine also provides 99.2 percent protection against severe disease and 98.9 percent protection against fatality two weeks after…

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The expansion of Corona testing facilities announced before Christmas has been implemented almost across the board. As a data analysis by a team from the Vienna University of Technology together with the APA shows, three out of four Austrians can reach the nearest free test in just five minutes driving time. Because pharmacies (and, in Tyrol, family doctors) have also been involved, more than 2,000 testing options are now available. However, there are still gaps in some rural communities. The offer is particularly dense for Viennese and Tyroleans. Here, for…

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The police headquarters of Lower Bavaria is currently warning of a scam aimed at taking over WhatsApp accounts. The background is the case of a 15-year-old girl whose WhatsApp account was hijacked by criminals. This is how the scam worksYou get a message via WhatsApp asking you to forward a 6-digit code. At the same time, you receive this 6-digit code via SMS. The SMS code is the verification number to restore your WhatsApp account. The code was previously requested by the criminals. If the 6-digit code gets into the…

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In 2020, 39,478 marriages took place in Austria, according to preliminary data from Statistics Austria, 6,556 or 14.2 percent fewer than in 2019. In the same period, 1,253 registered partnerships were established, eleven or 1.3 percent fewer than the year before. However, in the Corona year with lockdowns and pandemic-related restrictions, “9.2 percent fewer marriages were also legally divorced,” reported Statistics Austria Director General Tobias Thomas. Last year, 611 couples took advantage of the same-sex marriage option, which has been available since January 1, 2019; at the same time, 1,170…

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