LIVE: Government on the situation in hospitals and possible closure in Austria – Coronavirus Vienna

The government will discuss the situation regarding intensive care capabilities in Austrian hospitals in a panel of experts on Thursday. Meanwhile, the sharp increase in the number of coronavirus patients has raised fears in some federal states that capacity limits will soon be reached regionally. In four weeks, the number increased from 88 to 224 patients in intensive care on Wednesday. Then the semaphore commission meets.

On the government side, Federal Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (ÖVP), Vice Chancellor Werner Kogler and Health Minister Rudolf Anschober (both Greens) participate in the lunchtime expert meeting at the Federal Chancellery. MedUni Vienna virologist Elisabeth Puchhammer-Stöckl, Klaus Markstaller, President of the Austrian Society for Anesthesia, Resuscitation and Intensive Medicine (ÖGARI), Oswald Wagner, Vice Chancellor of MedUni Vienna, Herwig Ostermann, Managing Director of Health Austria and Thomas Hausner are invited to the expert site, Trauma Surgery Specialist at the Lorenz Böhler trauma hospital in Vienna.

The panel of experts begins at 1 pm, and the statements are scheduled for 2 pm at the Federal Chancellery. After that, the semaphore commission meets as usual. According to the newspaper “Standard” (online edition), there is a discussion about the fact that all Austria, except seven districts of Carinthia, will be red. For the first time, entire federal states would be set at the highest corona warning level. But there is also a general red card for all of Austria.

In view of this development, according to “Standard” and “Salzburger Nachrichten”, a package of stricter national measures will be prepared in the coming days. The new rules should be comparable to those in other countries. The main goal is to secure intensive care beds. The exact form of the measures is still being negotiated.