Category: General Interest

On Easter Sunday, Pope Francis plans to celebrate one of the highest feasts in the Church year for the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, followed by the blessing “Urbi et Orbi”. The head of the Catholic Church will once again have to celebrate the festivities under Corona conditions. The crowds of pilgrims who came to the Vatican and the Italian capital of Rome in the past failed to show up again this year. Service in St. Peter’s BasilicaBefore the pandemic, Easter Sunday Mass was often celebrated in St.…

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Most of the churches are in silent mode. Easter services are limited to few faithful, who can attend the easter celebrations. Restaurants are closed. Family members who aren’t already under the same roof will not be gathering for a meal of ham or lamb, scalloped potatoes and spring vegetables. This Easter Sunday is very different than any we have experienced in living memory. The novel coronavirus pandemic has shut down cities, economies and in-person social interaction around the world and casts a shadow more in keeping with the darkness of…

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Pope Francis celebrated the Easter Vigil on Saturday under Corona conditions, as he did last year. Because of the restrictions in place in Italy, the Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica was brought forward to 7:30 p.m., as a curfew is in effect from 10 p.m., as it has been for months. The whole of Italy is also considered a Red Zone with the strictest Corona rules over the Easter period from April 3 to 5. Most of the same restrictions apply in the Vatican City State as in the Italian…

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More than 130.24 million people worldwide have been confirmed to have contracted the coronavirus. This was the result of a Reuters count based on official data on Saturday. More than 2.97 million people died in connection with the virus. The U.S. has the highest numbers, with more than 30.65 million cases of infection and more than 554,000 deaths. Brazil is in second place with more than 12.9 million infections and more than 328,000 deaths, ahead of India, where about 12.4 million people have been confirmed infected and more than 164,000…

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The U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has relaxed its recommendations for fully vaccinated individuals with travel in mind. The agency published new guidelines on Friday stating that it again considers domestic and international travel acceptable for these people. Fully vaccinated individuals can travel safely within the U.S., it said. But they should continue to follow precautions while doing so: Wear masks, keep their distance from others and wash or disinfect their hands as often as possible. For domestic travel, corona testing before or after is not mandatory for those…

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At the start of the Easter lockdown in eastern Austria, the police drew a positive balance. The population is largely disciplined and adheres in principle to the lockdown measures. Vienna’s city center emptyLargely disciplined, the population in the eastern region adheres to the prescribed and with Thursday in force “Easter calm”. The police in Vienna, Lower Austria and Burgenland have not yet had to call in the curfews in droves and hardly disperse any gatherings, which was quite surprising in view of the early summer temperatures. There had been significantly…

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Argentina’s President Alberto Fernández has tested positive for the coronavirus, although he was injected with the Russian vaccine Sputnik V weeks ago. The sobering test result came on his 62nd birthday, of all days, the head of state wrote on Twitter that night. Due to his headache and elevated temperature of 37.3 degrees, he had first undergone an antigen test and after the positive result had gone into quarantine. For confirmation, he said, he had a more accurate PCR test done, the result of which is still pending. Fernández had…

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A new Corona variant has been registered in Africa, according to the pan-African health agency Africa CDC. It was discovered in travelers from Tanzania in Angola, the head of Africa CDC, John Nkengasong, announced at a press conference on Thursday. He said the new variant has up to 40 mutations. “This is certainly a variant of concern,” he said. “Unfortunately, we don’t know how this variant will respond to vaccines,” Nkengasong explained. There is now a surveillance system in Tanzania’s neighboring countries, while the mutant is being studied in South…

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For a week now, all Viennese have been able to obtain free PCR tests as part of the “Alles gurgelt” initiative. “It has all worked very well,” City Hall drew a first balance on Thursday. “Alles gurgelt” initiative free for all ViennesePreviously, participation was only possible for selected businesses and organizations. Since Friday, around 830,000 test kits have been issued and 132,500 samples (22,100 per day) have been evaluated. A further 30,000 samples were handed in yesterday (Wednesday) and are currently being evaluated. “The stock level in branches is constantly…

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