Austria closes the day before the international match – VG

– Any social contact is too much, was the gloomy message of Chancellor Sebastian Kurz when he announced the total closure on Saturday from tomorrow.

Norway’s soccer team, which with one exception consists of players from foreign clubs, travels from Norway to Vienna to play a Nations League game on Wednesday.

The team traveling to Austria has been called up after the original national team was unable to play due to Omar Elabdellaoui being diagnosed with a corona infection before the weekend.

They face empty positions in a country in deep crisis of the crown.

Soccer rolls as usual

– There is no controversy about the match, in light of the sharp crown measures, sports journalist from the Austrian daily Kurier Andreas Heidenreich tells VG.

He believes that Austrians like to watch sports on television during curfew.

– Naturally, matches take place without spectators, but nobody argues that professional football should stop. Both the first and second divisions play their matches.

Heidenreich claims that only one game has been canceled: 15 Wolfsberg players tested positive after the meeting with Dynamo Zagreb, before the game against Sturm Graz on Sunday …

He says that the soccer team is in a bubble, isolated in a hotel since last Monday.

– I see Norway come with a young team, while our players come from the German Bundesliga and they should win this match. But anything is possible, says journalist Kurier.

Unable to trace the infection

Austria has had 1,045 new cases of infection per 100,000 inhabitants in the last 14 days. That is almost eight times more than Norway. The corresponding figure for Norway is 140.

With thousands of new infections every day, the nation of 8.8 million people is among the countries in the world where the spread of infection is highest.

Kurz notes that many say the infection is not spread in schools or stores.

– But the truth is that the authorities cannot track 77 percent of new cases. They no longer know where the infection is spreading, the chancellor said.

Enter hard measures

The government has concluded that the measures introduced on November 3 have not helped and came out before the weekend with extremely tough measures to close the country:

• A 24-hour curfew means that everyone must stay home except to go to the pharmacy or church store. People can also ventilate the dog.
• Social contact is limited to the same home, partners, relatives and caregivers.
• Everyone who can work from home should.
• Schools are shifting to distance education, but will offer “care” to children in need.
• Traveling to work and school is only allowed if necessary.
• Patients in nursing homes and hospitals can only have one visit per week, which must bring evidence of negative coronary tests.
• Nozzles should be used if distance is not maintained.

The new and stricter measures will be introduced on Tuesday and will last until December 6.

Goes for mass testing

Austria has also decided to follow neighboring Slovakia and introduce massive tests. Slovakia quickly screened two-thirds of the population two weeks ago. One in 100 tested positive.

“We want to use massive testing towards the end of the closure, mainly by teachers to ensure a safe reopening of schools,” Kurz told state broadcaster ORF on Sunday.

The federal chancellor has been criticized for not working harder earlier this fall.

Austria escaped the first wave of the pandemic with relative ease, but the health service is under pressure during the second wave this fall.

The number of patients receiving intensive care is around 600, an increase of 30 percent in one week. The country has a total of 2000 intensive care units.

1,829 people have died from the coronavirus in Austria.

Almost 700 of the earliest cases of Norwegian krone can be traced back to Austria. During après ski at the Kitzloch bar in Ischgl, Nordic ski tourists contracted the new virus.

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