[ad_1]
The death toll fell below 1,000 for the first time since mid-March. The Minister of Health rejects a traffic light system due to regional restrictions.
According to official evidence, a third of Austria is “crown free”. According to data published by the Ministry of Health, there have been no new infections in 33 of 94 districts for 14 days. If all goes well, an opening could be accelerated from June, Health Minister Rudolf Anschober said Thursday.
As of Thursday morning (8:00 a.m.), 949 people in Austria were currently infected with the corona virus. For the first time since March 16, the number of people currently suffering from SARS-CoV-2 in the country fell below 1,000. So far, there have been a total of 15,980 positive results across the country. 234 people were hospitalized for the coronavirus, of which 54 were in intensive care units. So far, 626 people in Austria have died of a disease with or with Covid-19. Two people from Lower Austria died from Wednesday to Thursday.
The number of new infections has changed only slightly since the initial restrictions were largely lifted on May 1. Only a few new cases are reported daily from the old “Crown Bastion” Tyrol. Only in the metropolis of Vienna and Lower Austria do the daily increases, as well as the number of people recovering, sometimes in double digits.
Acceleration from June?
At a press conference on Thursday, Anschober announced that the situation in the first half of June should be thoroughly examined. “If it is a good result, it could speed up the opening measures,” said the minister.
However, the minister rejected a regional “traffic light system” as in Germany at the request. The Robert Koch Institute has proposed a traffic light system for Germany. Accordingly, there are regional restrictions if new weekly infections in a district exceed 50 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. For Austria the Complexity Science Hub put this system online. The limit here is ten cases for every 10,000 inhabitants in 14 days.
At present, such a traffic light would be green in most Austrian districts. Because in only twelve of the 94 districts, the number of new confirmed infections per 10,000 inhabitants is more than one. Most of them are, due to numerous infections in a nursing home, in the Styrian district of Weiz, in Horn and in Vienna. However, in the vast majority of districts, the infection rate is less than 1, and therefore in green, 33 new districts have not had any new infections in the past 14 days.
“Minimize, minimize, minimize”
“I don’t think it is a good example for Austria,” Anschober said of the German approach. He suggests that there is no problem below the limit of 1. Austria’s goal is to “minimize, minimize, minimize” even below a limit of 1, Anschober says.
Therefore, Austria will continue to open every 14 days. With regional herds of infection one has to intervene regionally. However, this is based on group analysis, evaluations and control measures.
(APA)
