A generationIn several countries in Central Europe, Covid-19 infection Record level. In Austria, 14,416 new infections were reported in 24 hours on Wednesday, much higher than the peak of previous pandemics. The 7-day incidence rate was 953 cases per 100,000 residents. The Czech Republic also reported a record high, with 22,479 new infections, a slightly larger population, double the previous day (incidence rate 813). Hungary’s figure is low, but it is also close to the previous high in late March, with an incidence rate of 535. Slovakia (792 occurrences) exceeded this point at the end of October.
The common denominator in the regions of the region is the moderate vaccination rate: 64% of the population in Austria is fully vaccinated, 60% in Hungary, 58% in the Czech Republic, and only 43% in Slovakia.Nevertheless, it is still influential Vaccination Among the number of patients in the hospital. In Austria, less than half of the intensive care beds reserved for Covid patients are occupied, and in the earlier waves (with fewer infections), this proportion was as high as 60%.
“You died of corona in a plastic bag”
However, the utilization rate varies from region to region. Salzburg and the Federal States of Upper Austria have been severely affected.In Salzburg, it appeared at the National Clinic on Tuesday Diversion-The established committee must decide who will give priority to the intensive care unit. At present, the number of occupancy has not officially reached the limit, but given the vitality of development, the alarm bell has been sounded.
Upper Austria has not yet taken this step. But the report by the Austrian News Agency anonymously interviewing an intensive care nurse in a hospital in Upper Austria caused a sensation: From Sunday to Monday, there were so many deaths that the bodies had to be “overcrowded.” “You put the stunned person naked in a sealed plastic bag, zip up, and that’s it.”
Slovakia faces threat of closing factories
Therefore, people are discussing extending the “blockade of unvaccinated people” introduced this week. In Vienna’s “turquoise green” government, the Green Party and Minister of Health Wolfgang Mukstein have been pushing for more measures, such as banning night meals for everyone. ÖVP and Federal Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg strongly rejected this. He tried to maintain the route, that people who were vaccinated should not be shut down. On Wednesday, after the meeting of the Council of Ministers, the government no longer ruled out the possibility of further measures. There will be discussions with governors on Friday.
In the Czech Republic, Prime Minister Andrej Babiš announced that from next week, restaurants, hotels and events will adopt the 2-G rule (rehabilitation, vaccination). Currently, a negative test is sufficient. Slovakia tightened its regulations last week. If the health authorities or the police find an infected person in the workplace, they can immediately close the company for a maximum period of 30 days. The recent sabotage and verbal and physical attacks by opponents of vaccination and “persons who refuse to wear a mask”, as well as the falsification of vaccination or test confirmations, are now prosecuted under their own criminal regulations.
