The corona mutations in Tyrol remain the polarizing topic in Austria.
Meanwhile, Chancellor Kurz sees Austria on the right track.
The news ticker.
Coronavirus pandemic in Austria: After a lockdown * for weeks, it was recently relaxed.
The virus mutations * cause concern - not only in Tyrol anymore.
Chancellor Sebastian Kurz is optimistic about the corona situation in Austria
(see update from February 20, 9.50 a.m.)
.
This news ticker on the corona crisis in the Alpine republic is continuously updated.
Update from February 20, 9:50 a.m.:
Austria's Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (ÖVP) is positive.
"We are the first country in Europe to rely on massive tests in schools," he said
on request,
according to the
German Press Agency
.
Austria is one of the countries with the most tests worldwide.
According to the Ministry of Health, around three million antigen tests and PCR tests can be expected every week.
Mathematically, every third Austrian would be checked for the virus once a week.
Since the corona lockdown was relaxed, the incidence value has risen from around 100 to around 115.
At the same time, the situation in the clinics is stable.
According to experts, an increase in the number of infections is to be expected and initially not alarming.
It is important that the increase level off in about ten days or, ideally, stop.
Then it will show whether the strategy of intensive search for symptom-free infected people and their subsequent quarantine can stop the spread, according to simulation researcher Niki Popper.
Austria wants to decide on the next steps on March 1st.
This could include the opening of hotels and restaurants, but probably only for guests with a negative Corona test.
This concept had already worked at the beginning of February, when people were being tested en masse because of the access tests at the hairdresser's.
Corona in Austria: Chancellor Sebastian Kurz tweeted about gastro easing in the pandemic
Update from February 19, 7:51 pm
: "I have agreed with the industry representatives that they will work out a concept together with @ElliKoestinger and Rudolf Anschober," tweeted Austria's Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (ÖVP) today.
What kind of concept does he mean?
One for a gastro easing already next month, although he had promised this on Monday at the earliest for "around Easter".
According to information from
oe24.at, the Chamber of
Commerce had
urged it.
On March 1, new consultations on opening steps are due - "hopefully in March", as Kurz is said to have said according to the report after consultations with industry representatives from gastronomy and tourism.
However, this is dependent on the further infection process *.
The change in course is apparently related to a change in opinion among the hosts: “Testing is the best way to regain a little more freedom despite the pandemic instead of remaining in a permanent lockdown.
It is gratifying that the representatives of the catering industry are now ready to take part in the entry test, ”Kurz also tweeted on Friday.
+
Austria's Federal Chancellor Sebastian Kurz walks through the hallway of the Vienna Federal Chancellery with his mouth and nose covered.
© Helmut Fohringer / dpa
Corona in Austria: mass death of catering companies?
"Will not unlock anymore"
Update from February 19, 10:50 a.m
.: The economic effects of the Corona crisis are expected to be immense.
"We assume that after the end of the lockdown, 20 to 30 percent of the businesses will not unlock again," said the head of the Austrian subsidiary of the German food wholesaler
Metro
, Xavier Plotitza, of the Austrian daily
Kurier.
“The situation got worse in November in particular.
But we will endure it, ”said Plotitza about his company.
He does not expect an economic normalization “certainly not in the next one and a half years.
(...) In the best case, normality will be restored in 24 months, in the worst case not for three years ”.
Metro supplies many restaurateurs in the food and accessories sector.
At
Metro Austria
, according to the news portal
oe24.at,
80 percent of employees
are
currently on short-time work because many customers are currently leaving the catering trade.
+
Dense: the gastronomy in Vienna in the Corona crisis.
© IMAGO / photonews.at
Coronavirus pandemic in Austria: compulsory testing for Tyroleans should probably be extended
Update from February 19, 10 a.m.:
Tyrol remains in focus due to the spread of the South African Corona variant.
The German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer (CSU) has already indicated that the entry stop from the western Austrian state to Germany will be extended until March 3.
According to the
Tiroler Tageszeitung
, a decision will also be made in Vienna this Friday whether and for how long the mandatory test for Tyroleans will be extended within Austria.
An extension is very likely.
Coronavirus pandemic in Austria: 250,000 corona tests on average daily
Update from February 19, 9:30 a.m
.: The number is remarkable: According to the
Kronen Zeitung
, an average of 250,000 corona tests are currently being carried out every day
in Austria
.
In the past 24 hours, 1818 further infections with the insidious coronavirus were found.
In addition, the authorities in the Alpine republic registered 36 deaths in connection with Covid-19.
The number of deaths who died with or from Corona has therefore been 8,312 since the beginning.
Coronavirus pandemic in Austria: easing compared to Germany
First report from February 18
: Munich / Vienna - Austria recently eased again.
After the Alpine republic was in lockdown for six weeks, public life is currently picking up speed again.
Contact restrictions have been reduced, retail outlets and museums are reopened, and face-to-face classes are taking place in schools.
Corona in Austria: Lockdown over - but the concern remains
When you see pictures of downtown Vienna, you would think that the pandemic * is over.
The famous Mariahilfer Straße is more busy than it has been for a long time.
Apparently, people long to return to everyday life.
The question remains, however, of how long the newfound easing will last.
Because the politics of Federal Chancellor Sebastian Kurz * are faced with a difficult consideration: Which easing are justifiable due to the current situation?
In this context, the ÖVP politician likes to act according to the credo "as much freedom as possible, as many restrictions as necessary." That is why hotels and restaurants are currently still closed.
Because Austria has by no means defeated the pandemic - which is due in particular to the newly emerged virus mutations.
+
After the Austria-wide 3rd hard lockdown, which lasted around 6 weeks, shopping centers, hairdressers and shops are allowed to reopen under strict guidelines.
The Viennese shopping streets were well attended.
© Georges Schneider / imago-images
Corona in Austria: Tyrol declared a "virus variant area"
In Tyrol, the British virus variant B.1.1.7 * in particular seems to be spreading rapidly.
The German Robert Koch Institute therefore classified the state as a "new virus variant area - area with a particularly high risk of infection due to the widespread occurrence of certain SARS-CoV-2 virus variants".
Due to concerns about spreading into neighboring Bavaria, border controls are currently being carried out again when entering Germany.
In Austria's third largest state there are currently 343 confirmed mutation cases (as of February 17)
Corona in Austria: More mutation cases in Vienna than in Tyrol
The problem is that the mutation cases are currently no longer limited to Tyrol.
Such cases are now known in all federal states, most often in absolute numbers not in Tyrol, but in Vienna, where 471 cases were confirmed by Tuesday.
The capital is not designated as a virus variant area.
Nationwide, the mutation cases are now said to have risen into the four-digit range, reported the Austrian news agency APA, citing the Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety (Ages) on Tuesday.
Accordingly, there are 1375 confirmed mutation cases.
1096 cases were infections with the British variant B.1.1.7, the South African mutant B.1.351 had been detected 279 times.
Corona in Austria: "We will not be able to prevent variants from circulating in Eastern Austria as well"
The virologist Christoph Steininger from the Medical University of Vienna feared over
oe24.at
another Ausbreien of mutations. "We will not be able to prevent variants are also circulating in eastern Austria" The key was that one time gains, so that one more people with vaccination.
Until then, the number of mutation cases in Austria will probably continue to skyrocket.
According to the latest information from the Ages **, 3993 test results from suspected mutations are still pending, most of them in Lower Austria (1237).
In Tyrol, on the other hand, you only wait for three test results.
(as) * Merkur.de is part of the nationwide Ippen-Digital editors network
** The data of the ages are continuously updated. You can find them on the homepage under the menu item Sars-Cov-2 variants in Austria. You can also get the current infection numbers for Austria via the Ages dashboard.
List of rubric lists: © Helmut Fohringer
