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The number of infections in Austria is increasing rapidly and hospitals are reaching their limits. The media report that Chancellor Kurz is planning “lockdown measures” based on the German model.
By Clemens Verenkotte, ARD-Studio Vienna
“Germany goes ahead with the blockade”, “Germany pulls the emergency brake”, “Near blockade in Germany”: There is no doubt that the new massive restrictions in the neighboring country are attracting great attention in the Austrian media. Because the number of infections in Austria is about twice that of Germany in relation to the number of inhabitants.
Every night the ORF ZiB 1 news program reports the crown numbers: “Today we have more than 3000 new infections again, there are almost 3400 in 24 hours. And the trend is pointing up. This shows the seven-day average. “
Hospitals are reaching their capacity limits
In the three western federal states of Vorarlberg, Tirol and Salzburg, the number of new infections in the last seven days exceeded 300 per 100,000 inhabitants, nationwide 236. The curve for Covid-19 patients also increases steeply. With more than 1,500 people, 224 of them in intensive care units, hospitals in some federal states are already reaching their capacity limits. The number of patients has doubled in two weeks.
Othmar Grabner, director of the South Styria regional hospital, told ORF: “The situation is tense and serious in general. Today we have already reached the upper limit. If more patients are admitted to intensive care, we will seek a transfer with neighboring hospitals.” .
In Styria, the regional hospital company already banned visits to all its hospitals yesterday.
“Blocking measures” as in Germany
In view of the foreseeable shortage of Covid beds, the Austrian government will follow the German model, the “Salzburger Nachrichten” reported on Wednesday night, citing government circles in Vienna. There will be “lockdown measures” “as they will be applied in Germany on November 2,” the newspaper said. According to the “Standard” information, almost the entire country now turns to “red”, the highest warning level on the four-color scale of the Austrian Crown traffic light.
Call a panel of experts
Chancellor Sebastian Kurz has convened a panel of experts for lunch with the goal, it is said, of ensuring that Covid patients can be admitted to hospitals. The “Standard” also informs that the federal government wants to take a stricter set of measures that should be comparable to those of neighboring countries.
Sebastian Kurz said he called Angela Merkel to “coordinate joint efforts in the fight against the corona pandemic.” Kurz told the Austrian news agency Apa that all of Europe was in the middle of the second wave, so there would be “more restrictions and shutdown-like conditions everywhere.” In the run-up to today’s video conference of EU heads of state and government, Kurz announced that he wanted to keep the borders open.
