Given China’s current Corona infection wave, more countries are tightening their controls on people entering the country from the People’s Republic. Spain and South Korea also announced testing obligations on Friday. The German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) considers that currently “not yet necessary” but announced a close-meshed “variant monitoring” at European airports. In Austria, no compulsory testing is currently planned, according to the Ministry of Health. After nearly three years of strict precautions, China’s leadership abruptly ended its zero corona policy on December 7. According to officially unconfirmed internal…
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How to distinguish corona, flu and a cold
What are the symptoms of the corona, flu or cold? The differences are hard to tell. We must be prepared for more and more periods of illness in the winter months, especially when there is an increase in colds, flu infections and corona. This year’s flu wave is, unfortunately, already in full swing. Corona, gastrointestinal viruses and typical cold viruses are also present. In Vienna, you can get a free flu vaccination since November 2. But what if you are already sick? What is the difference between the symptoms of…
Read MoreNew Year’s Eve superstition: these 5 foods bring bad luck
On New Year’s Eve, luck is conjured up for the following year. But beware: with these five foods, you can also bring bad luck into your house. Even if you don’t think much of superstition otherwise, everything is different on New Year’s Eve! Why else do we give our loved ones lucky little charms, marzipan and cast monstrosities made of lead or wax to predict the future? Everyone wants to have luck in the new year! And if you can conjure it up with certain foods, such as lentils –…
Read MoreSuperstition: Why not hang out laundry over New Year’s Eve?
The most exciting and bizarre customs and traditions circulate during the New Year. Hanging out laundry over New Year’s Eve: why?The belief that you should not leave laundry hanging on the clotheshorse over the New Year has (as so often) to do with ghosts. There are a few versions of this: According to ancient tradition, evil spirits come into the world of the living after the “winter solstice.” First and foremost, Wotan, the skin god of the Germanic tribes or god of the dead and storm, is on the move…
Read MoreVery mild turn of the year with up to 18 degrees
Similar to last year, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day will be extremely mild, according to forecasts. Highs are expected to range between ten and 18 degrees. “Only in case of persistent fog can it remain cooler, with highs around six degrees,” Sabrina Marth of the Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics (ZAMG) said on Wednesday. This puts the maximum values in the range of the records, both of which date from the previous year. According to the report, the highest temperature on New Year’s Eve day was 18.3…
Read MoreMore and more illegal fireworks: heavy penalties loom
This year, Customs have taken more illegal pyrotechnics and fireworks significantly out of circulation than the previous year. There is also a threat of severe penalties. While 954 fireworks were seized upon importation during mobile checks in the previous year, by mid-December 2022, the number had almost doubled to 1,720. On Tuesday, Finance Minister Magnus Brunner (ÖVP) said, “Do not rely on illegal firecrackers or rockets that are potentially dangerous to you or other people.” Danger from illegal fireworksOf 1,215 fireworks seized this year, there is a medium danger. However,…
Read MoreShopping on New Year’s Eve: opening hours of stores on December 31, 2022
Those who still have to shop on New Year’s Eve in Vienna will have time to do so in most stores until the evening. Here are all the opening hours of supermarkets, drugstores and shopping centers on December 31, 2022. Whether it’s champagne, lucky charms or groceries: on New Year’s Eve, people often have a lot of things to get. December 31, 2022, falls on a Saturday, so many stores are open until the evening. According to Vienna’s opening hours ordinance, on New Year’s Eve, last-minute purchases in general retail…
Read MoreNetflix charges extra for password sharing
The streaming service Netflix has recently lost subscribers, and forecasts predict an even more significant loss of customers in the coming months. As a result, plans have been developed to cut costs, increase revenue and make the service more attractive. An essential part of this plan is to get money from all those Netflix users who have been using the streaming service for free for years. Account sharing is a thorn in Netflix’s side because the multiple profiles per subscription are only supposed to be used by family members in…
Read MoreHere’s how plastic waste will be collected in Austria starting in 2023
From 2023, all plastic packaging such as yogurt pots, plastic bags or tubes will be collected together with plastic bottles and beverage cartons throughout Austria in the yellow garbage can or the yellow bag. From 2023, everything will go into the yellow garbage canSo far, light packaging has been handled differently in the provinces, and in Vienna, for example, it has been incinerated as residual waste. Vienna is also considering placing blue-yellow garbage cans in residential buildings in the future but is initially only testing this in a small part…
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