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After regions were lit red for the first time at the corona traffic light, new local measures to contain the virus were decided on Friday. After Health Minister Rudolf Anschober (Greens), Federal Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (ÖVP) also announced a tightening for all of Austria. Details must be decided on Monday. However, 1,163 new infections were reported, which is in the range of the seven-day average and well below the previous day’s record.
After the stoplight commission meeting, four districts in three federal states turned red Thursday night. Those affected are Wels-Stadt in Upper Austria, Hallein in Salzburg and Innsbruck-Stadt and Innsbruck-Land in Tyrol. Wels then stepped up security measures at nursing homes and retirement homes on Friday. This was decided for the whole of Upper Austria, as well as a mandatory guest registration in the catering sector. The ordinance goes into effect Tuesday.
In Innsbruck, Mayor Georg Willi (Greens) did not rule out further measures. In the “drawer” are “to be discussed, tightening measures” that further restrict social contacts, reported Willi. In the Hallein district of Salzburg, a quarantine for the Kuchl community was already decided on Thursday, which will apply from Saturday. The University of Salzburg will also largely suspend classroom teaching from Monday. The state of Carinthia decided to toughen the measures for the St. Veit / Glan district, which was set to orange, in the area of nursing homes and events.
Also in Styria, alarm bells are ringing after the sharp increase in the number of infections: in Graz, Governor Hermann Schützenhöfer (ÖVP) announced measures: “If the federal government does not take any action on Monday, we will take some.” He argued that there should be solutions across Austria in terms of masks, curfew and schools. “People don’t know how to move anymore.”
After Anchober’s announcement of a nationwide tightening of measures “in the coming days,” Chancellor Kurz promised them on Friday. A video conference between the federal and state governments will take place on Monday. It should serve “that we discuss the next steps together and take appropriate action in the federal government and in the states,” the ÖVP chief told the APA. He stressed that the only way to stop the increase in the number of infections is by reducing social contacts, “which of course means that we all have to do without.”
1,163 new cases of coronavirus were published on Friday morning in the last 24 hours, after the previous high of 1,552 on Thursday. Most of the infections occurred with 238 in Upper Austria, 230 in Vienna and 206 in Tyrol. The number of hospital patients increased to exactly 700. In a weekly comparison from last Friday, that represented an increase of 192 hospitalized or 38 percent. The occupancy of Covid-19 intensive care patients increased by 20 percent from 103 to 124 during this period. In one week there were also 40 deaths of infected people, which means that so far 882 victims of SARS-CoV have been mourned. -two.
Health Minister Anschober was concerned about three developments. He was as concerned by the increase in hospital patients as by the cases of infection in some nursing homes and the increase in the median age of those who tested positive. In all affected districts most at risk, there is a growing shift in infections to the private sector, to small celebrations and parties, to small events and in families, Anschober said.
He was convinced that the additional regional measures that have now been taken will have a positive effect: “If we can intercept and reduce the spikes in these regions, then that is half the success for development in Austria.” At the same time, the Minister of Health stated that national measures are being prepared alongside regional measures.
Five districts were saved from the current red light, although the seven-day incidence (number of new infections) was greater than 100 in each case after risk adjustment. The delineation of the clusters spoke in favor of Orange, according to the recommendation of the Crown Commission published on Friday. This affected the city of St. Pölten, the districts of Rohrbach (Upper Austria), Imst and Schwaz in Tyrol and St. Johann im Pongau in Salzburg. In any case, Vienna was not the object of discussion in favor of the red shift; recently there has even been a slight decrease in incidence for seven days
Those: APA
