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Today in Austria For Members

Today in Austria: A roundup of the latest news on Wednesday

Catherine Edwards
Catherine Edwards - [email protected]
Today in Austria: A roundup of the latest news on Wednesday
Photo: Midas Hofstra/Unsplash"

Every weekday, The Local brings you an English-language summary of the news you need to know in Austria.

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Will Austria's Omicron soon start to flatten?

The number of new cases is still rising in Austria, with the seven-day incidence rate topping 2,000 for the first time ever yesterday.

The WHO noted this week that globally, the Covid incidence rate is rising less rapidly and is starting to even out. 

Austria doesn't appear to be at this point quite yet, and the Omicron variant began spreading here slightly later than in some other European countries. The chart below from Our World in Date shows the case rate in Austria since the start of the year.

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Covid booster gives 99% protection against death from Covid, Austrian study shows

The study is in line with international data, and was based on analysis by Gesundheit Österreich GmbH (GÖG).

Out of approximately 5,600 deaths since the first completed series of vaccinations in February 2021, most deaths (around 4,500) were people who were not fully vaccinated. A total of 95 people died of Covid after receiving three vaccine doses, most of them aged over 75 and therefore in the age category most vulnerable to the disease.

The study showed similar effectiveness of three vaccine doses in all age groups. Among over-75s, the researchers recorded 0.238 deaths per 100,000 observation days among people who were triple vaccinated, compared to 22.56 deaths per 100,000 observation days in the unvaccinated group. This means the vaccine effectiveness rate is 99 percent.

Students protest about school leaving exam requirements

Rallies are planned by student groups today in Vienna and in some other cities across the country, to protest the requirement to carry out Austria's school leaving exam (Matura) in person.

In 2021 and 2020, it was not compulsory to carry out the usual oral element of the exam, but that has been reintroduced for this year.

The protests are not organised by the national student union, but by a group called ‘Action by Critical Students’ (AKS) affiliated with the centre-left SPÖ party.

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More deaths but fewer injuries on Austria's mountains last year

The data comes from the Austrian Board of Trustees for Alpine Safety (ÖKAS), which recorded 272 deaths in mountain accidents last year, a rise of 11 from the previous year, although total injuries fell by almost 3,000 to reach 4,961.

The activity associated with the most fatalities in 2021 was hiking/mountaineering with 111 fatalities, followed by  mountain biking with 16 associated deaths.

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