Spicy Corona report from Austria: Hundreds of doctors on the Bavarian border reject vaccination

Created: 01/14/2022, 11:15 am

By: Patrick Mayer, Martina Lippl

Corona checks every now and then: the Tyrolean border with Bavaria near Kufstein.

© IMAGO / Rolf Poss

In Austria, the corona numbers are going through the roof.

According to a report, hundreds of doctors and nurses from Tyrol do not want to be vaccinated.

The news ticker for the pandemic in the Alpine republic.

• Corona pandemic in Austria

  : The omicron wave hits the country with full force.

• According to a report, hundreds of doctors and nurses from Tyrol do not want to be vaccinated despite the upcoming vaccination requirement

  (update from January 12, 4:15 p.m.).

• A first "Flurona" case is detected in Austria

  (update from January 12, 2:57 p.m.).

• This

  news ticker on the Corona crisis in the Alpine republic

  is updated regularly.

Update from January 12, 9:30 p.m

.: Austria’s Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) must remain in home quarantine.

This Wednesday, a PCR test by the head of government from Vienna was positive.

A spokesman announced this in the evening.

However, Nehammer is symptom-free and fully able to work.

The Chancellor's Office said he would keep his appointments in the coming days via video and telephone conferences.

The 49-year-old had tested positive for the corona virus last Friday (January 7).

Corona pandemic in Austria: simulation expert expects the highest level of infections

Update from January 12, 6.40 p.m

.: Omikron also dominates the corona infection process in Austria. "At the end of the week we will certainly reach the previous highs from last November and in the days that follow will also significantly exceed them," said simulation researcher Nikolas Popper in an interview with the ORF television program "ZIB 2" on Tuesday evening. According to Popper, "the number of unreported cases" is added.

The scientist is a member of the state crisis coordination "Gecko", which advises the federal government in Vienna and prepares political decisions.

"Around 90 percent of Austrians have had contact with the vaccination or the virus themselves in the past," the expert continued.

"This means that we will always have partial successes with immunization, so that hopefully we will finally enter the endemic phase in autumn." An endemic phase would then mean an end to the pandemic.

Corona pandemic in Austria: Hundreds of doctors and nurses from Tyrol do not want to be vaccinated

Update from January 12, 4:15 p.m

.: According to Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) and Minister of Health Wolfgang Mückstein (Die Grünen), Austria is preparing for the general compulsory vaccination under high pressure in the corona pandemic and wants to keep the start date at the beginning of February.

But, does everyone want to be vaccinated against Corona?

There is no compulsion with the obligation, instead there are hefty fines for vaccination refusers and skeptics.

As the

now reports,

The report goes on to say that this could lead to staff shortages.

Tyrol has a long border with neighboring Bavaria and has repeatedly come into focus during the pandemic - partly because of the winter sports resort of Ischgl in the Alps.

Corona pandemic in Austria: Rows of school classes have to go to distance learning

Update from January 12, 3:55 p.m

.: In Austria, too, the focus is still on schools in the coronavirus pandemic.

One question in this context is how to assess the incidence of infection in children.

Already after the first two days after the Christmas holidays it can be said: It is high, there are obviously many infections.

As Minister of Education Martin Polaschek (ÖVP) announced this Wednesday after the Council of Ministers, around 2,300 infections have so far been found in the defined antigen tests across the Alpine republic.

30 classes were therefore sent by the authorities to so-called distance learning.

The classes are therefore allowed to return to face-to-face teaching after five days.

According to Polaschek, the number of distance learning classes should continue to increase in the coming days. 

Corona pandemic in Austria: First "Flurona" case in the Alpine Republic known

Update from January 12, 2:57 p.m

.: The first “Flurona” case has been detected in Austria.

This was announced by the Center for Virology at MedUni Vienna, as

reported by

A double infection with influenza A (H3N2) and SARS-CoV-2 was detected in a young woman.

The patient has a mild course.

Fever and other symptoms passed quickly.

"Flurona" is a non-scientific term first used by the Israeli newspaper 

 after a pregnant woman in Israel was diagnosed with both corona and flu at the same time.

The artificial word "Flurona" is made up of the English "flu" for flu and corona.

Austria prognosis: Corona numbers explode because of omicron

First report from January 12, 2022

Vienna – The number of cases in Austria is extreme.

Around 17,000 new coronavirus infections were reported on Wednesday (January 12).

Never before have so many corona cases been reported.

However, the previous record will be broken in the next few days.

The Covid forecast consortium is convinced of this.

The experts expect up to 30,000 new corona infections per day.

By the beginning of next week at the latest, the daily corona cases in Austria * will probably already be over the 20,000 mark.

On January 19th (Wednesday), these levels will almost certainly be above the 20,000 mark.

As an average, the consortium assumes 24,000 new infections within 24 hours for next Wednesday, and as an upper limit even 32,000 new cases.

That would mean doubling the number of cases within a week.

The forecast scenario considers consortiums to be realistic.

Because the experts had already predicted the maximum value of daily new corona infections of 17,000 this Wednesday (January 12) last week.

Corona in Austria: Since January 11, an FFP2 mask has also been mandatory outdoors if a distance of two meters cannot be maintained.

© Martin Juen/imago

What effects the omicron variant has on hospitalization is initially unclear.

The forecast consortium expects a "possible increase in the normal care surface".

The actual extent of the reduction in virulence of the omicron variant cannot be adequately understood due to the lack of linkable national data and should be interpreted with caution.

Because of Omikron, new corona rules have been in force in Austria since January 11th.

Retailers now have to check 2G proofs and FFP2 masks are mandatory outdoors if it is not possible to keep sufficient distance.