Vienna: Do not forget the FFP2 mask in these places!

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Starting today, Tuesday, the FFP2 mask requirement also applies outdoors – and when the 2-meter distance cannot be maintained. The police will increasingly control heavily frequented places from now on.▶Pedestrian zones: for example the Kärntner or Mariahilfer Straße with the popular meeting place MuseumsQuartier.▶Favoriten: especially Favoritenstraße as well as Reumannplatz are busy places.▶Stops: Floridsdorf, Schottenring, Westbahnhof, Karlsplatz – if there are many people around, the mask is mandatory!▶Markets: at the Brunnen- as well as Naschmarkt it is narrow between the stalls, the 2-meter distance is not always possible.▶Waiting lines: for…

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First omicron vaccine ready in March

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Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla says the new Omicron vaccine is ready. It could be delivered starting in March, he said, but questions remain. Shortly after the new coronavirus variant became known, pharmaceutical companies BioNTech/Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca began preparing for possible adaptation of their vaccines. Now there appear to be early results. “The Omicron vaccine will be ready to see in March,” Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla announced on CNBC. He also said the U.S. company has already begun manufacturing the doses. The vaccine will also target the other variants in…

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“Action sharp”: 2G checks in stores will start on Tuesday

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The 2G controls in stores will start on Tuesday. Interior Minister Gerhard Karner (ÖVP) announced an intensification of Covid controls by the police at a press conference in Vienna on Monday. The “Aktion Scharf” should be at the same time an “action fairness” to the overwhelming part of the population who adhere to the Corona protection measures. For the “strengthened control pressure” are to provide readiness units as well as policemen and policewomen in civilian clothes. For the trade there will be recommendations for action, “how controls can be implemented…

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Delta and Omicron variants of the coronavirus clearly more contagious

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In the original type of the coronavirus Sars-CoV-2, about every thousandth infected person was a so-called superspreader. In the omicron variant, it is even every twentieth to tenth. This is indicated by a Swiss modeling study. According to this study, surgical masks are only rarely sufficient for protection. FFP2 masks, on the other hand, still provide sufficient protection, except in situations with high aerosol production such as singing or loud talking. Scientists led by aerosol expert Michael Riediker, director of the Swiss Center for Occupational and Environmental Health (SCOEH), came…

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Vienna City Health Councilor Peter Hacker expects a doubling of new infections “in the next one or two days”

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City Health Councillor Peter Hacker (SPÖ) expects a doubling of new infections in Vienna “in the next one or two days,” he told ORF’s “Wien heute” program in an interview. “We can expect to see a doubling in the next few days. That’s what I’m counting on. I would be surprised if it’s less,” Hacker said in an interview with ORF Vienna editor-in-chief Oliver Ortner. The reason for this, he said, is the sharp increase in the number of tests due to the return of children to schools or because…

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Deltakron: Alleged “mixed variant” caused by laboratory error

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The alleged detection of a mixed variant of delta and omicron in Cyprus is probably due to contamination during analysis, according to experts. “These genomes are most likely artifacts,” Richard Neher of the University of Basel (Switzerland), a leading expert on viral variants, explained to Deutsche Presse-Agentur. He said the omicron mutations observed here in a context of delta genome sequences all affect a DNA segment that is often very weak in delta detections and therefore highly susceptible to contamination. Other experts expressed similar views on Twitter, such as WHO…

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10,804 new corona infections and seven deaths

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The number of new daily infections was usually lower at the beginning of the week. Today, ministries report 10,804 new cases, a very high figure for a Monday. More than 10,000 new infections on a Monday have only occurred on Nov. 15 and Nov. 22 of last year. The average for the past seven days thus climbs to 8771. The Austria-wide seven-day incidence per 100,000 inhabitants rises to 687.3. Hospitals are now treating 24 more corona patients. A total of 935 people suffering from Covid-19 are hospitalized throughout Austria, 264…

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“Deltakron” – New variant discovered in Cyprus

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Cypriot researchers have discovered 25 cases of a corona strain that combines elements of the delta and omicron variants – “deltakron.” While Austria is currently struggling with the Omicron variant – numbers are rising rapidly, with authorities reporting 10,291 new infections on Sunday – more bad news reaches us from Cyprus: Researchers discovered a new variant that has Omicron-like genetic features in Delta genomes. 25 delta crone cases in CyprusLeondios Kostrikis, professor of biological sciences at the University of Cyprus and head of the Laboratory of Biotechnology and Molecular Virology,…

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Health Minister Wolfgang Mckstein: Normal wards decisive for lockdown

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Health Minister Wolfgang Mückstein wants to prevent another lockdown. However, the decisive “marker” will no longer be the occupancy of intensive care units, but rather that of normal wards, he said in an APA interview. Mückstein pointed out that the probability of a hospital admission is up to 50 percent lower with Omicron than with the Delta variant: with Delta, one out of four admitted patients ends up in the intensive care unit; with Omicron, the ratio is only 1:10. And: with the Delta variant, about 20 percent of intensive…

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