Category: General Interest

The number of confirmed Corona infections worldwide has risen to more than 100 million. This is according to a data analysis by Reuters news agency on Wednesday. Covid-19 has now been detected in nearly 1.3 percent of the world’s population. Some 668,250 cases have been reported daily since the beginning of the year. The worst-affected countries – the U.S., India, Brazil, Russia and the U.K. – together account for more than half of all cases, but represent only 28 percent of the world’s population. The hardest-hit region is Europe, which…

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The US company Apple is the most valuable brand in the world. This is the result of a study published on Tuesday by the brokerage firm Brand Finance. According to the study, Amazon and Google, also based in the U.S., follow in second and third place. “A brand is first of all an intangible asset, we try to give it a value,” the director general of Brand Finance, Bertrand Chovet, told the AFP news agency in this regard. The basis for this, he said, is on the one hand the…

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Early next week, the extension of the hard lockdown could be announced. After a marathon discussion by the federal government on the Corona situation on Monday, a decision on when the lockdown should really end was postponed. Only in the coming week they want to announce a decision. According to the Austrian free newspaper “Heute”, the decision will be made on Monday – at the same time as the first day of the semester break in Vienna and Lower Austria. It will then be clear whether the lockdown will remain…

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Only when at least 40 percent of the population is vaccinated does a “soft” lockdown take effect. Mathematical models show that a “lockdown light” will not take effect until at least 40 percent of the population has been immunized. Until then, the researchers conclude, tough measures, including school closures, will be effective in combating the pandemic. Even with optimistic assumptions, a “soft” lockdown cannot break the spread of Covid-19. This is the conclusion reached by a research group led by computer scientist Robert Elsässer at the University of Salzburg. Simulations…

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As of Monday, 1.5 million over-65s in Austria have each received ten FFP2 masks free by mail, according to the Health Ministry. Free masks for people over 65“By January 27, this process will be completed and thus 17 million masks will have been delivered to 1.7 million people,” it said in a statement. Social institutions have also been supplied. “Our common goal is to ensure the best possible safe participation of the elderly population in social life. With the free FFP2 masks, we are protecting this particularly hard-hit group during…

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More than 400,000 people have already registered for coronavirus vaccination in Vienna. Among older people, there are apparently concerns that registration is not possible without the Internet. It goes however also over the health Hotline 1450. People over 80 are to be vaccinated in Vienna from mid-February at the latest. Already now the reservation for it is possible, not only in the Internet under Impfservice.wien, but also with the health hotline 1450. Even if that within one week already over 400,000 humans made, one would not have to worry that…

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Health Minister Rudolf Anschober (Greens) expects first deliveries of Astrazeneca vaccine starting Feb. 7. At the Steering Board Meeting on EU vaccine procurement, the CEO of Astrazeneca announced that the vaccine is expected to be approved by the end of this week, according to a Health Ministry release. Vaccine can then be delivered to Austria in three tranches in February: 63,354 on Feb. 7, 97,763 on Feb. 17 and 182,430 at the end of February. In total, then, “343,547 doses of vaccine from Astrazeneca will come to Austria in February,”…

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To curb the spread of new variants of the coronavirus, travel within the EU as well as from outside should be further restricted, according to the EU Commission. The Brussels-based agency today proposed introducing stricter testing and quarantine rules for certain countries and regions. The EU traffic light chart, on which regions are marked green, orange or red based on common criteria, is to be adapted. Accordingly, a new “dark red” category is to be introduced for high-risk areas with more than 500 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants within the…

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As of today, wearing an FFP2 mask is mandatory in some areas – such as “public transport” and grocery stores. KN95 masks also in circulation – contrary to original reports – are also approved under certain conditions. However, according to the Ministry of Health, these products should only be used if they have been demonstrably tested in Europe. The KN95 standard label states that these masks are of similar quality to European FFP2 masks. However, they can only be used after they have been tested in Europe, according to the…

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