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Infection focus Ischgl: The first corona case was apparently covered up - drama started much earlier

2020-04-02T13:39:44.329Z


Some of the people suffering from Covid-19 are said to have been infected with the corona virus in Ischgl, Austria. Apparently the first Corona case was covered up.


Some of the people suffering from Covid-19 are said to have been infected with the corona virus in Ischgl, Austria. Apparently the first Corona case was covered up.

  • Some of the people suffering from Covid-19 are said to have been infected with the coronavirus in Ischgl
  • The authorities in Tyrol reacted much too late
  • Apparently the corona drama in Ischgl started much earlier

Update from April 2nd, 2020, 3:31 pm: Although the Corona crisis was already boiling, the ski lifts in Ischgl were still in full swing until mid-March. It is now clear that at this point some people had already been infected with the new Sars-CoV-2 coronavirus .

Tyrolean authorities repeatedly emphasize that a German bartender in the “Kitzloch” was the first confirmed corona case in the area. The bartender had tested positive for the virus on March 7th.

Corona virus in Ischgl: The first corona case was apparently covered up - drama started much earlier

However, Franz Allerberger of the Austrian Agency for Health and Food Security (AGES) said on Thursday in Vienna that, according to an expert, the corona virus has been spreading in the ski mecca of Ischgl since early February. According to this, a Swiss woman is considered a patient zero. She infected herself with the virus on February 5 and then brought it to Tyrol . However, the positive test for Corona came much later.

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Some of the people suffering from Covid-19 are said to have been infected with the corona virus in the Austrian ski resort of Ischgl.

© Felix Hörhager / dpa

The Swiss woman had worked in an après-ski bar in Ischgl. Allerberger emphasized that the German bartender had been wrongly “reassigned” to the role of the alleged redistributor.

Meanwhile, the public prosecutor suspected that the positive test for the coronavirus of an employee of a restaurant in Ischgl was not reported to the authorities at the end of February.

Coronavirus (Covid-19) in Ischgl: Was the first corona case covered up? - Worse suspicion

Update from March 24th, 2020, 8:31 am: The corona cases in Ischgl , Austria, are piling up. The state of Tyrol has now switched on the public prosecutor's office on the basis of a suspected case of coronavirus Sars-CoV-2 in Ischgl. A positive Covid 19 case is said to have been known in a company at the end of February. However, he did not report the case to the health authority, as the "ZDF" reports. The name of the company is not mentioned.

The Austrian news portal "oe24.at" reports that the employee concerned was sent home in late February. Initially, it was unclear whether the Covid 19 case was actually positive . It also remained open whether an investigation had already been initiated.

The state of Tyrol had already received a lot of criticism before. Authorities and politicians were accused of reacting too late to the developments in Ischgl.

Coronavirus (Covid-19) in Ischgl: Ski Mecca becomes a focus of corona infection

Update from 03/18/2020, 10:55 p.m .: After the drastic accumulation of corona virus cases in the ski resort Ischgl in Tyrol, the entire Austrian state is now quarantined from midnight.

“We issue quarantine regulations for all 279 Tyrolean communities. This means: The community can only be left if it is about covering basic services, for basic services or to get to work - and then only to the nearest place, ”said Tyrolean country manager Günther Platter in the evening via Facebook. "If there is a doctor, a pharmacy, a grocery store and a bank in town, the community must not be left for these purposes."

Corona virus in Ischgl: Tyrol wants to isolate itself from neighbors

Tirol also wants to isolate itself even more from its neighbors: "This means that only those who are at home in Tyrol or work in the critical infrastructure or supply can enter Tyrol," Platter wrote on Facebook. “That Tirol isolates itself is absolutely necessary. Because we want to prevent the virus from being spread from Tyrol on the one hand and we can also protect ourselves on the other. ”

These drastic measures come very late. So far, 474 confirmed cases of Sars-CoV-2 infections have been counted in Tyrol - more than in any other Austrian state. Quite a few tourists in the ski area of ​​Ischgl have brought the corona virus with them to their home countries.

First report from March 17th, 2020, 2:11 pm: Ischgl - It wasn't the gardener, not even the postman. No, a bartender is said to have transmitted the coronavirus * in Ischgl, the Austrian ski mecca, to other people. According to the Austrian "standard", Ischgl holidaymakers tested positive for the Sars-CoV-2 * coronavirus in numerous countries. In Denmark alone there are said to be over 100, in Hamburg 80. Ischgl has thus developed into Europe's secret corona breeding ground. The Austrian authorities took quarantine measures far too late.

Coronavirus in Ischgl: Some people get Covid-19 in Tyrol - authorities react too late

At the end of February, more precisely on the 29th of the month, a Boeing 757 from Munich landed in Iceland. When the Icelandic authorities tested the passengers for the Coronavirus *, it was clear: some of them had Covid-19 - most came from Ischgl. While Iceland reacted immediately and declared the ski area in Tyrol a risk area, the Austrian authorities initially did nothing.

Instead, the ski operation continued. It was only a week after the Icelandic tour group returned that Ischgl reported the first official Corona case. The patient is a 36-year-old German, bartender in the "Kitzloch", a popular bar directly at a valley station. How he infected himself is not known. At the time, the state of Tyrol's Facebook page only said: "For all visitors who were in the bar during the said period and who have NO symptoms, no further medical clarification is necessary." But things turned out differently.

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Some of the people suffering from Covid-19 are said to have been infected with the corona virus in the Austrian ski resort of Ischgl.

© Felix Hörhager / dpa

Bars in Ischgl closed due to Coronavirus (Covid-19) - "Après-ski a virus thrower"

Other people fell ill around the bartender. The après-ski bars in Ischgl were only closed on March 10th. On March 14th, Austria's Minister of Health Rudolf Anschober and Minister of the Interior Karl Nehammer called on everyone who has been in said areas since February 28th to "go into self-isolation at home".

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The German Robert Koch Institute declared Tirol a risk area the day before. The lift operation in Ischgl only stopped on Monday, March 16. The weekend before, numerous people were on the slopes. The Tyrolean virologist Robert Zangerle had warned of the Austrian "Standard" days before: "Après-ski is a virus sling." After all, many people stand together in a very small space.

"Greed has defeated responsibility": Ischgl becomes a coronavirus breeding ground

A warning that apparently did not reach the Austrian authorities. The "Standard" wrote: "Greed has defeated the responsibility for the health of citizens and guests." They wanted to take the last "strong tourist week" with them. On the Tyrolean side, it is said that contagions in Tyrol are "unlikely from a medical point of view". Instead, the Austrians only got infected on the plane with a sick returnee to Italy.

Ad Ischgl: "From a medical point of view, a transmission of the coronavirus to bar guests is unlikely" (8.3.)

(Document found on the facebook page of the restaurant in question which is surprisingly not offline) pic.twitter.com/SWTiODiZ0w

- Stefan Lassnig (@StefanLassnig) March 14, 2020

Tirol vehemently rejects media criticism regarding the use of the corona virus in Ischgl. "We always took steps exactly at the point in time when secure information was available," emphasized a spokesman for the Tyrolean state government. Even more: only through the initiative of the authorities was it possible to identify the bar as a possible location for the corona virus.

Is the coronavirus breeding ground (Covid-19) in Europe? Tyrol defends itself

The Tyrolean Minister of Health Bernhard Tilg said in a statement on Monday (March 16th) that all employees of the hotel in question had also been tested immediately after the positive tests of the Icelandic guests were made known. None of them had Covid-19. After the positive test of the 36-year-old bartender from Germany, the bar was closed immediately - a little later all other ski bars.

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Some of the people suffering from Covid-19 are said to have been infected with the corona virus in the Austrian ski resort of Ischgl.

© Jakob Gruber / dpa

On March 13, the winter season ended prematurely and Ischgl and the entire Paznaun valley were declared a restricted zone. Now, a few days later, Tyrol is one of the largest corona risk areas. It all started from a bartender - and authorities, who apparently reacted too late.

In Germany, people are discussing a possible curfew due to the coronavirus epidemic. Chancellor Angela Merkel addressed the nation in a TV speech on Wednesday evening.

with dpa

"Structureless and uncoordinated" - a suspected corona patient from Seligenstadt reports on her bad experiences in the test center of the University Hospital Frankfurt *.

Germany could soon impose a curfew because of the corona virus. Will there be exceptions? What if you violate it? Everything that is important. The WHO also clarifies that drinking alcohol against the coronavirus does not help.

* fr.de and op-online.de are part of the nationwide Ippen-Digital editors network.

List of rubric lists: © TVB_Paznaun-Ischgl / dpa

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2020-04-02

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