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Coronavirus: Foreign Office issues travel warning for Vienna

2020-09-16T19:37:50.958Z


In relation to the inhabitants, the new corona infections in Austria are three times higher than in Germany. Now the Foreign Office is drawing conclusions for the capital Vienna. Other regions in Europe are also affected.


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Mariahilferstrasse in Vienna: A travel warning has been issued for the state due to rising corona numbers 

Photo: 

ALEX HALADA / imago images / Alex Halada

Due to the increased number of new corona infections, the Federal Foreign Office has declared the Austrian capital Vienna a risk area and issued a travel warning.

The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) published an updated list of corona risk areas on Wednesday, in which the state of Vienna is now also listed.

"Due to the high number of infections, there are currently warnings against unnecessary tourist trips to the federal state of Vienna," said the Foreign Office.

The central criterion for classification as a risk area is the states or regions in which there were more than 50 newly infected people per 100,000 inhabitants in the past seven days.

Usually shortly after the classification as a risk area, a corresponding travel warning from the Foreign Office follows.

A travel warning goes further than classification as a risk area: although it is not a ban, it should have a significant deterrent effect.

However, it also has a positive side for consumers: it allows travelers to cancel bookings free of charge.

The travel warning hits the already ailing city tourism in Vienna hard.

As a result of the corona crisis, the traditional Hotel Sacher had last laid off 140 employees at its locations in Vienna and Salzburg.

In Vienna alone 105 employees are affected.

"A situation couldn't be more dramatic," said Sacher boss Matthias Winkler.

Sales at Sacher in 2020 will be only 25 percent of the previous year (around 100 million euros).

In the next year it would be "maybe 30 to 35 percent," said Winkler.

He reckons that international tourism will take four to years to recover.

Private celebrations should be responsible

According to Austria's Minister of Health Rudolf Anschober (Greens), celebrations in family or friends are responsible for the persistently high number of new corona infections in the entire Alpine republic.

The country is in a crucial phase, said Anschober.

768 new cases were recorded on Wednesday.

The number of occupied hospital beds is also beginning to increase noticeably, said Anschober.

With this development, Austria is well above the trend in Germany.

Taking into account the number of inhabitants, the number of infections in Austria is around three times higher.

3600 of the currently around 6600 active cases in Austria are reported from Vienna.

Switzerland had therefore already put the Austrian capital on the list of risk areas.

In addition to Vienna, other regions in Europe have also been declared risk areas by the Federal Foreign Office.

In addition to Vienna, the Hungarian capital Budapest and other regions including the Netherlands, Croatia, France and Switzerland are affected.

The French region of Hauts-de-France and the island of La Réunion are now also considered risk areas.

The canton of Friborg was added in Switzerland, and the provinces of North Holland and South Holland in the Netherlands.

Amsterdam is also affected.

Last week, the German government extended a worldwide travel warning for third countries outside the EU to September 30th.

Icon: The mirror

hba / dpa

Source: spiegel

All news articles on 2020-09-16

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