Today in Austria: A roundup of the latest news on Friday
Find out what's going on in Austria on Friday, with The Local's short roundup of today's news.
Worldwide travel warning lifted in Austria
As The Local reported on Thursday, Austria’s State Department has lifted the worldwide coronavirus travel warning issued 15 months ago. As ÖVP Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg announced at a press conference on Thursday, only a few virus variant areas such as Brazil, South Africa, India and Great Britain are coloured “red”, meaning only Austrian and EU residents can come to Austria from these locations.
Entrance from the EU states and the three Western Balkan states of Serbia, North Macedonia and Albania is completely “green”. The green list also includes the USA, Saudi Arabia, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea and Thailand. It is possible for fully vaccinated people to come to Austria from “orange” countries.
READ MORE: Austria lifts worldwide travel warning
Seven day incidence is seven
The seven-day incidence, or the number of new infections with the coronavirus in the past seven days per 100,000 inhabitants, is 7.3. Carinthia (1.8) has the lowest, Vienna (16.4) has the highest.
All four of EU's approved vaccines protect against all strains of Covid-19
The EU Medicines Agency (EMA) has announced all four vaccines approved in the EU protect against all strains of Covid-19 circulating in Europe, including the Delta variant, according to the head of the EMA vaccination strategy, Marco Cavaleri. The EU disease control agency ECDC predicted last week that Delta could account for 90 percent of new coronavirus infections in Europe by the end of August.
Traffic jam warning as school holidays start and Styrian Formula 1 race is held
Traffic jams and queues at the border are expected this weekend as the summer holidays start for children in the east of Austria. The second Formula 1 race will also take place in Styria on Sunday, with tens of thousands of Verstappen fans are expected, especially from the Netherlands. On Sunday during departure, traffic jams are to be expected in the vicinity on the S36 and S6.The border crossings Salzburg-Walserberg (A1), Nickelsdorf (A4 and B10), Suben (A8), Spielfeld (A9), Karawankentunnel (A11), Kufstein-Kiefersfelden (A12) and all Slovenian ones - Croatian border crossings, are expected to be busy, broadcaster ORF reports.
Corona Traffic Light Commission designates more states 'green'
The Corona Commission has added Carinthia, Salzburg, Tyrol and Upper Austria to Styria, as “green” under Austria’s traffic light system. All these states are below the threshold of five new infections per 100,000 inhabitants. It will now “pause” for the next few weeks.
READ MORE: What is Austria's new five-colour Covid traffic light system
The rest remains in the yellow-green area, which means low risk. The same is true for the state as a whole. The next meeting, at which the commission will also meet, will take place next week. It was the first coloring that was carried out by circular resolution.
Kurz 'extremely angry' over murder
Austrian chancellor Sebastian Kurz said he was “extremely angry” after three immigrants with an Afghan background killed a 13-year-old girl. Kurz said: “I consider it unbearable that people come to us, claim to seek protection and then commit cruel, barbaric crimes in Austria”, the German Die Welt newspaper reports. The paper notes that his Green coalition partners did not object to this despite their usually migrant-friendly politics.
World Summit in Austria attended by Arnie
The "Austrian World Summit", which took place yesterday in Vienna, has become a way for the US to present itself as a pioneer in climate protection, according to the Wiener Zeitung newspaper. Celebrity Arnold Schwarzenegger, Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen and Chancellor Sebastian Kurz were among those who addressed the Summit in physical presence or online.
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Worldwide travel warning lifted in Austria
As The Local reported on Thursday, Austria’s State Department has lifted the worldwide coronavirus travel warning issued 15 months ago. As ÖVP Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg announced at a press conference on Thursday, only a few virus variant areas such as Brazil, South Africa, India and Great Britain are coloured “red”, meaning only Austrian and EU residents can come to Austria from these locations.
Entrance from the EU states and the three Western Balkan states of Serbia, North Macedonia and Albania is completely “green”. The green list also includes the USA, Saudi Arabia, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea and Thailand. It is possible for fully vaccinated people to come to Austria from “orange” countries.
READ MORE: Austria lifts worldwide travel warning
Seven day incidence is seven
The seven-day incidence, or the number of new infections with the coronavirus in the past seven days per 100,000 inhabitants, is 7.3. Carinthia (1.8) has the lowest, Vienna (16.4) has the highest.
All four of EU's approved vaccines protect against all strains of Covid-19
The EU Medicines Agency (EMA) has announced all four vaccines approved in the EU protect against all strains of Covid-19 circulating in Europe, including the Delta variant, according to the head of the EMA vaccination strategy, Marco Cavaleri. The EU disease control agency ECDC predicted last week that Delta could account for 90 percent of new coronavirus infections in Europe by the end of August.
Traffic jam warning as school holidays start and Styrian Formula 1 race is held
Traffic jams and queues at the border are expected this weekend as the summer holidays start for children in the east of Austria. The second Formula 1 race will also take place in Styria on Sunday, with tens of thousands of Verstappen fans are expected, especially from the Netherlands. On Sunday during departure, traffic jams are to be expected in the vicinity on the S36 and S6.The border crossings Salzburg-Walserberg (A1), Nickelsdorf (A4 and B10), Suben (A8), Spielfeld (A9), Karawankentunnel (A11), Kufstein-Kiefersfelden (A12) and all Slovenian ones - Croatian border crossings, are expected to be busy, broadcaster ORF reports.
Corona Traffic Light Commission designates more states 'green'
The Corona Commission has added Carinthia, Salzburg, Tyrol and Upper Austria to Styria, as “green” under Austria’s traffic light system. All these states are below the threshold of five new infections per 100,000 inhabitants. It will now “pause” for the next few weeks.
READ MORE: What is Austria's new five-colour Covid traffic light system
The rest remains in the yellow-green area, which means low risk. The same is true for the state as a whole. The next meeting, at which the commission will also meet, will take place next week. It was the first coloring that was carried out by circular resolution.
Kurz 'extremely angry' over murder
Austrian chancellor Sebastian Kurz said he was “extremely angry” after three immigrants with an Afghan background killed a 13-year-old girl. Kurz said: “I consider it unbearable that people come to us, claim to seek protection and then commit cruel, barbaric crimes in Austria”, the German Die Welt newspaper reports. The paper notes that his Green coalition partners did not object to this despite their usually migrant-friendly politics.
World Summit in Austria attended by Arnie
The "Austrian World Summit", which took place yesterday in Vienna, has become a way for the US to present itself as a pioneer in climate protection, according to the Wiener Zeitung newspaper. Celebrity Arnold Schwarzenegger, Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen and Chancellor Sebastian Kurz were among those who addressed the Summit in physical presence or online.
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