In Austria, the corona situation differs greatly from region to region.
The particularly badly affected federal states in the east are now pulling the emergency brake.
The corona numbers in Austria have increased again in the past few weeks.
The incidence of infections in the Alpine republic differs greatly from region to region - the situation in the east of the country is "dramatic".
(see update from March 23, 10:45 a.m.)
A tough Easter lockdown was decided for the east of the country.
(see update from March 24th, 9:54 a.m.)
This news ticker on the corona situation in Austria is updated regularly.
Update from March 24th, 8:00 p.m.:
In the eastern part of Austria the situation is dramatic.
The intensive care units of the hospitals are threatened with overload.
Now the federal government has announced a tightening of the corona measures around the Easter holidays.
Health Minister Rudolf Anschober (Greens) affirmed that an "Easter break" was necessary.
This is the only way to avoid overloading the hospitals in Vienna, Lower Austria and Burgenland.
The seven-day incidence there is currently just under 300.
This is why retailers, hairdressers and masseurs have to close their shops from Maundy Thursday until the Tuesday after Easter.
Only shops for daily needs are allowed to remain open, said Anschober.
The Minister of Health had previously negotiated long with the heads of government of the three regions.
Actually, shops and companies in Austria stay open on Good Friday - unlike in Germany.
The schools are also affected by the tightened corona measures.
You are switching to online lessons for a week after Easter.
In addition, there is a stricter mask requirement in the aforementioned regions during Easter as well as a test requirement for commuters from neighboring countries to the east.
Corona in Austria: Hospitals sound the alarm - "Resources are increasingly exhausting"
Update from March 24th, 9:54 a.m.:
The east of Austria is struggling with a high level of exposure in the intensive care units of hospitals.
"Our resources are noticeably exhausted," said a spokeswoman for the Vienna Health Association to the news agency apa on Tuesday.
Above all, the federal states of Vienna, Lower Austria and Burgenland are struggling with incidences over 200, in some places even up to 400.
After the Corona summit had brought virtually no changes to the government, an "Eastern Summit" on Tuesday should now clarify the further procedure for the three federal states.
After the talks it is clear: an intensification is coming.
At the “Eastern Summit” with Austria's Minister of Health, Anschober, he made it clear: A “package is needed that really helps to curb the increasing number of infections.”
Corona in Austria: "Eastern Summit" decides to tighten it - is there a hard lockdown coming?
Vienna's mayor spoke of an "Easter rest" like in Germany, but also a hard lockdown for two to three weeks was probably under discussion.
Experts, however, warned of a collapse of the hospitals - even more urgently than at the government summit on Monday.
"I would prefer a hard lockdown that is short but effective - and that would lead to a rapid drop in the number of infections," said Eva Schernhammer, part of the government's expert panel.
Before the summit, soft measures had been discussed
(see update March 23, 4.10 p.m.).
Now, tougher measures seem to follow.
Further talks on Wednesday at various levels should clarify the details.
Corona in Austria: "Eastern Summit" should tighten and not bring any opening steps
Update from March 23, 4.10 p.m.:
After the almost inconclusive Corona summit of the government around Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (ÖVP) with the governors on Monday, an "Eastern Summit" will take place on Tuesday evening.
Health Minister Rudolf Anschober (Greens) has invited Governors Johanna Mikl-Leitner (Lower Austria, ÖVP), Michael Ludwig (Vienna, SPÖ) and Hans Peter Doskozil (Burgenland, SPÖ) to the Ministry for this evening from 7.30 p.m.
Measures are being sought against the currently particularly high numbers of corona infections in the three federal states.
In the run-up to the talks, however, there were no signs of a strict regional lockdown - despite the tense situation in the intensive care units.
"Today we are preparing proposals in the course of the day, which we want to discuss with the Minister of Health tonight," said Vienna's Mayor Ludwig in a press conference on Tuesday.
"We will certainly take tightening measures in the eastern region and not opening up steps," he continued and made it clear: "I cannot imagine sealing off the entire eastern region."
According to several Austrian media reports, more soft corona measures are being considered, such as expanding the (gargle) tests or wearing FFP2 masks for kindergarten teachers and younger students, as well as appeals for better participation in contact tracing.
Corona in Austria: Summit without major changes - "Eastern Summit" on Tuesday
Update from March 23, 10.45 a.m.:
The Corona summit on Monday in Austria brought hardly any changes.
Despite the sharp rise in the number of infections and an increasingly critical situation in the hospitals in the east of the country, the government and the provincial governors were unable to agree on any major tightening or relaxation.
The originally envisaged opening of the outdoor catering sector is now off the table.
However, further opening steps were not ruled out.
These should be possible after Easter if the development in the intensive care units remains stable.
"The most important thing is the perspective," said Sebastian Kurz (ÖVP) in view of the immense pressure, especially on the catering and hotel industries.
He continues to assume that the worst will be over in summer.
"In the summer we will return to normal," said the Chancellor.
+
The Corona summit on Monday in Austria did not lead to any new measures.
© Tobias Steinmaurer / imago-images
Corona in Austria: Situation in eastern federal states "dramatic" - "Eastern summit" in the coming days
Health Minister Rudolf Anschober (Greens) told the governors at the Corona summit that the situation in Eastern Austria - in the federal states of Vienna, Burgenland and Lower Austria - was "dramatic", as
reported by
oe24.at.
The aim there is to prevent “hard triage”.
The British virus variant B.1.1.7 in particular is spreading particularly strongly here.
The three federal states will have their own “Eastern Summit” in the coming days, at which further measures will be discussed.
This is to avoid overloading the intensive care units.
Anchober and the provincial governors are said to have agreed that this is the “greatest good”.
As a new criterion for further easing or tightening, in addition to the 7-day incidence and intensive capacities, the vaccination rate for over 50-year-olds is also to be used as an assessment.
As soon as a district reaches a 7-day incidence of 400, regionally tailored measures are to be implemented.
Corona summit in Austria burst: no agreement at meetings between government and provincial governors
Update from March 22nd, 5:20 p.m.:
The Corona summit in Austria has burst!
This is now reported by oe24.at.
Accordingly, an agreement could not be reached in the previous negotiations in the afternoon, but this week there will be a separate meeting between the Ministry of Health, Vienna, Lower Austria and Burgenland.
Austria is initially foregoing further nationwide steps in the corona crisis.
The previous path will be continued in most federal states, government circles said on Monday after a consultation with the prime minister.
As soon as a district reaches a seven-day incidence of 400, regionally tailored measures should be implemented.
Further opening steps were not ruled out either.
These should be possible after Easter if the development in the intensive care units remains stable.
In the future, not only the incidence value will be used to assess the situation, but above all also the occupancy rate in the intensive care units and the vaccination rate for those over 50 years of age.
Update from March 22nd, 4 p.m.:
While Germany is waiting eagerly on Monday for the measures currently decided by the federal and state governments after the Corona summit, the people of Austria are also looking to the government.
Because in Austria too, the federal government is discussing the current course of action in the corona pandemic in the afternoon.
And as oe24.at reports, citing FPÖ boss Norbert Hofer, a small decision is said to have already been made.
Accordingly, it had been agreed that freedom of travel for Austrians would be restricted until the summer.
A quarantine should continue to be ordered for travelers.
Corona in Austria: Which measures will be decided today?
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The government around Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (ÖVP) is advising at the Corona summit in Vienna on how to proceed in Austria.
(Archive image)
© Georges Schneider / imago-images
Update from March 22nd, 1:55 p.m.:
The ideas about what school operations should look like after the Easter holidays in view of the very different regional infections in Austria differ widely.
Parents' associations at middle and higher schools
(BEV) demand that older pupils also be able to return from switching to face-to-face classes at least regionally.
Teacher
representatives, on the other hand, see a need for regional tightening.
"If the bars are allowed to open in Vorarlberg, it is difficult to understand why the students are working shifts at the same time," BEV President Christoph Drexler told the APA news agency.
The hygiene rules in schools are already stricter than in many other areas of life.
Students are also tested regularly and wear masks, some of them FFP2 masks.
"We therefore consider a return to face-to-face teaching to be the order of the day," said Drexler.
The top teacher representative Paul Kimberger (FCG), however, has spoken out in favor of regionally differentiated measures.
He told the APA: "Here and there we will need tightening." A return to general presence operations is not feasible under the current conditions.
Corona in Austria: Numbers continue to rise - significant regional differences
First report from March 22nd:
Vienna - Three weeks ago, after a Corona summit with the provincial governors, the Austrian government announced that outdoor restaurants would open at Easter.
However, the corona numbers have risen significantly since then.
At that time, the nationwide 7-day incidence was 159, on Monday it was 236. The government around Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (ÖVP) is therefore advising today at a corona summit with experts and state governors on the further corona strategy in the Alpine republic.
The results are to be presented in a press conference in the late afternoon.
Due to the significantly increased corona numbers *, further nationwide opening steps are probably off the table for the time being.
Rather, it could come to regionally tightened measures, adapted to the infection situation.
The current situation is very different in the individual federal states.
According to a report by
oe24.at
, Austria should therefore be divided into three parts based on the number of infections.
In the western state of Vorarlberg, the corona situation * is comparatively relaxed.
The 7-day incidence is currently 62. For a week now, catering has also been allowed to reopen in Vorarlberg as part of a pilot project.
Here the openings will probably continue to be retained.
Corona in Austria: Kurz government is probably planning a tripartite lockdown
According
to the
oe24
report,
Tyrol (7-day incidence: 212), Upper Austria (205), Carinthia (185) and Styria (184) are
regarded as a "hope group".
The four federal states are all close to an incidence value of 200. If the numbers do not explode there, there should still be hope that the pub gardens will open from March 27th.
On the other hand, the situation is critical in Salzburg (306) and the three eastern federal states of Vienna (314), Lower Austria (258) and Burgenland (259).
The 7-day incidence there is well over 200. Health Minister Rudolf Anschober (Greens) only pointed out the worsening situation, especially in the intensive care units in the eastern federal states, on Sunday.
The more contagious British virus variant B.1.1.7 * is responsible for 95 percent of all new infections there.
Corona in Austria: Anschober wants to pull the "emergency brake" in heavily affected regions
“The situation in many intensive care units will be dramatic if effective countermeasures are not taken quickly.
We have to have the courage to pull the emergency brake in individual, particularly badly affected regions, ”explained Anschober.
Salzburg, Vienna, Lower Austria and Burgenland must therefore expect new restrictions.
This did not go down well with Vienna’s City Councilor for Health Peter Hacker (SPÖ).
“With appropriate prevention concepts, nothing speaks against opening the pub gardens from the beginning of April,” he assured the
courier
.
“Does anyone really think that you can let people sit in their four walls for a long time?
I am curious to see what the Chancellor's opinion looks like, ”Hacker continued.
Chancellor Kurz * has so far repeatedly defended the opening of all shops six weeks ago, accompanied by a comprehensive test concept.
The corona infection numbers * would increase linearly, but not exponentially.
In addition, this step has given the economy important impetus.
"The tests enable us to control the infection process as best we can," emphasized Kurz.
In schools, a third test run is now carried out within a week.
This increases the number of corona tests in Austria to almost four million per week, as the government announced.
(ph / dpa) * Merkur.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA
List of rubric lists: © Tobias Steinmaurer / imago-images
