Mask requirement in supermarkets to remain until July 8

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Austrian Health Minister Johannes Rauch does not envisage an early relaxation of the mask requirement. Thus, it remains in place in supermarkets and in “vital trade” until at least July 8. Domestic retailers are again calling for an end to mandatory masks in supermarkets and drugstores. Health Minister Johannes Rauch (Greens) had most recently announced that the FFP2 mask obligation for employees in the “vital trade” would be maintained until July 8. This is “disproportionate, discriminatory and epidemiologically is not justifiable,” said Handelsverband Managing Director Rainer Will‘s statement on Thursday.…

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Four scenarios: Here’s how the government plans to brace for the Corona situation in autumn

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The Austrian federal government wants to be better prepared for the coming, now third pandemic autumn. On Friday, Health Minister Johannes Rauch (Greens) and experts presented a so-called Variant Management Plan (VMP). Involving 80 experts, it contains four possible scenarios for the further development of the coronavirus. Rauch announced that the final VMP should be available at the beginning of June. “We need to prepare seriously for different scenarios in the fall,” Rauch said. “We simply don’t know which variant we will be dealing with in the fall,” the responsible…

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Food costs will now be even more expensive

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According to the Food Industry Trade Association, national origin labeling will continue to fuel food inflation. “We are experiencing the strongest wave of inflation in 40 years. Food costs are going through the roof. Right now is the worst possible time for new mandates, which are driving up costs even further for domestic producers. This is further fueling food inflation. Who is taking political responsibility for this?” criticizes Katharina Koßdorff, Managing Director of the Food Industry Association, on the occasion of the appraisal of two regulations for a purely national…

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The new omicron subvariants continue to spread

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So far, 36 cases of BA.4 and one point of BA.5 have been reported in Austria. In South Africa, the subvariants are even causing a new wave. One of the reasons for this is likely to be a change in the spike protein, which has not previously been found in Omicron. “We already know the L452 mutation from Delta, which means that antibodies can no longer bind to the virus. This could explain the high immune escape property of BA.4 and BA.5,” says molecular biologist Andreas Bergthaler in an interview…

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6,000 new infections in Austria

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From Thursday to Friday, 6,001 new infections were registered in Austria. This is slightly above the average of 5,345 infections over the past seven days. The 7-day incidence is currently 420.35. Currently, 70,369 people are actively infected. In the past 24 hours, 274,676 PCR tests have been performed. This results in a positive rate of 2.18 percent. In addition, six new deaths have been reported. Thus, the pandemic has claimed 18,228 lives so far. Currently, 1,038 people are being treated in the hospital, by 39 less than on Thursday. Seventy-six…

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Temperatures up to 25 degrees will be reached in the coming days

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According to the Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics (ZAMG) forecast, the weather will become less volatile in the coming days, and temperatures will rise. On Tuesday, up to 25 degrees are possible. Today, Friday, however, heavy clouds will prevail in many parts of the country. There will be short sunny windows, especially in the lowlands. Both in the inner Alps and the south and during the day, showers are expected from the northwest, locally with thunder and lightning. There will be locally gusty solid peaks, while away from them…

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Nearly 15 million dead so far due to Corona pandemic, WHO says

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According to World Health Organization estimates, the Corona pandemic has claimed the lives of about 14.9 million people worldwide in 2020 and 2021. The figure includes both Corona-infected people who have died and people with other illnesses or injuries who could not be treated in time because of overstretched health systems—the WHO reported Thursday in Geneva. The death toll is just over 6.2 million among those infected with Corona. The figures are based on reports from WHO member countries. The WHO is calling for more investment in healthcare so that…

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Valneva’s dead vaccine to become a booster

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The Austro-French group Valneva seeks approval of its corona vaccine VLA2001 as a booster after other vaccines or infections. For this purpose, a clinical trial with human volunteers has been started in the Netherlands, Valneva announced in a release Wednesday. For possible approval as a primary immunization against Covid-19 in the EU, the inactivated vaccine remains in the review process at the EMA drug agency. But that review process is delayed. Valneva still hopes to receive conditional marketing approval for VLA2001 in the European Union this quarter, initially expected by…

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Omicron just as serious as earlier variants

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According to a study, the Omicron variant is as dangerous as previous mutants of the Coronavirus. “We found that the risks for hospitalization and mortality were nearly identical,” explains four scientists involved in the U.S. study from Massachusetts General Hospital, Minerva University, and Harvard Medical School. The analysis is based on 130,000 Covid 19 patients over the past two years in several countries, including South Africa, Scotland, England, and Canada. The researchers thus refute the previous assumption that the variant is more transmissible but less severe. “We found that the…

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