Category: General Interest

Education Minister Heinz Faßmann (ÖVP) gave a positive assessment on Thursday of the use of the new rapid antigen tests at schools in Vienna and Lower Austria. The acceptance among students and parents was great, only one percent had refused the test. In total, 198 of the 470,000 tests were positive on Monday and Wednesday (75 percent count). At the press conference, epidemiologist Gerald Gartlehner pleaded for the reasons for this low number to be ascertained. In the first two rounds of testing on Monday and Wednesday, Vienna accounted for…

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A veritable run on Corona tests has brought the lockdown, which has been relaxed since Monday, along with the start of school in eastern Austria: over one million, exactly 1,096,621 Corona tests were reported by the provinces to the crisis team in the past five days. In total, just under eleven million tests have been carried out in Austria since the start of the Corona pandemic, the Federal Chancellery said. The trend continues to rise sharply. Monday was peak test dayThe enormous influx was caused by the prerequisite of a…

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According to WHO, the South African mutant B.1.351, which showed partially lower vaccine efficacy in initial tests, has been confirmed in 44 countries, the Brazilian B.1.1.28 in 15 – both mainly also in Western Europe, but the Brazilian one not yet in Austria. Increased transmissibilityAccording to the World Health Organization, 86 countries worldwide, including Austria, have reported the B.1.1.7 variant, which was first detected in the United Kingdom, and suspected cases were being investigated in several others. In the United Kingdom, the proportion of cases with the mutation among samples…

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According to data published for the first time, 37,740 people over the age of 85 have been vaccinated so far – i.e. every sixth person in this age group. In total, according to the Electronic Vaccination Record (as of Monday evening), 221,637 people have received at least the first vaccination. That represents 2.5 percent of the population. Most of those are under 65. Residents of nursing homes and homes for the elderly, as well as those over 80, are at the top of the government’s vaccination schedule. However, priority is…

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Gerald Gartlehner, an epidemiologist at Danube University in Krems, gave an alarming interview to ORF Report on Tuesday. He fears that Austria has “wasted some time” in responding to the South Africa cluster in Tyrol, since it has been known for some time “that Tyrol is becoming a hotspot for the South African mutant.” The current measures are “not optimal”. Regional quarantines with regular mass tests would be better. The population could also be “vaccinated as a matter of priority” with a vaccine that is effective against the South African…

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German health departments have reported 8072 new Corona infections to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) within one day. In addition, 813 new deaths were recorded within 24 hours, according to figures released by the RKI on Wednesday. These current figures should also include 600 follow-up reports of new infections from North Rhine-Westphalia, which had been missing the previous day, according to the RKI. Exactly a week ago, the RKI had recorded 9705 new infections and 975 new deaths within 24 hours. The peak of 1244 new reported deaths had been…

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As of today, Austria has a strict entry regulation in place. In addition to the existing obligation to register and quarantine, entrants must also present a negative Corona test. The result must not be older than 72 hours. If no result can be presented upon entry, a test must be carried out immediately, at the latest within 24 hours. The negative test result must be presented in the event of a check, whereby a check can be carried out anywhere on the spot, for example during a traffic check. Tough…

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Tyrol will be sealed off – for at least ten days. After several days of negotiating what countermeasures would make sense, the federal government announced new tightening measures for Tyrol on Tuesday. “The British and the South African mutation unfortunately prevail in Europe,” said Chancellor Sebastian Kurz at a press conference called at short notice. Both variants are more contagious, he said. Above all, however, the South African variant is a challenge in that Astra Zeneca’s vaccine may be less effective against it. As a reminder, Astra Zeneca is the…

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With the requirements that come with the recent opening steps in coronavirus measures, the demand for free antigen testing has skyrocketed. A recent negative test result is now mandatory for appointments with body-related service providers, for visits to nursing homes and for employees in some industries. The offer has been significantly expanded – in many regions, however, appointments are still hard to come by. The rush on the first day was so great that the website of the Chamber of Pharmacists, which lists all providers, was temporarily overloaded in the…

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