I.In several Central European countries, the number of new corona infections is currently climbing to record levels. In Austria, 14,416 new infections were reported within 24 hours on Wednesday, which is significantly more than at the height of the previous waves of the pandemic. The seven-day incidence is 953 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. The Czech Republic also reported an all-time high, where there were even 22,479 new infections with a slightly larger population, doubling compared to the previous day (incidence 813). Hungary’s numbers are lower, but are also approaching the previous high of late March with an incidence of 535. Slovakia (incidence 792) exceeded this point by the end of October.
Common to the states in this region is a moderate vaccination rate: in Austria 64 percent of the population is fully vaccinated, in Hungary 60 percent, in the Czech Republic 58 percent, in Slovakia only 43 percent. Nevertheless, the vaccinations have an effect on the number of patients in the hospitals. In Austria, less than half of the intensive care beds reserved for Covid patients are occupied, in earlier waves (with lower numbers of infections) the rate was up to 60 percent.
“You put corona dead in a plastic bag”
However, the utilization varies from region to region. The federal states of Salzburg and Upper Austria are badly affected. In Salzburg, a triage commission was formed at the regional clinics on Tuesday, which would have to make decisions about who would have priority when allocating an intensive care place. Currently, the occupancy figures are not officially at the limit, but the alarm has been sounded in view of the dynamism of the development.
This step has not yet been taken in Upper Austria. But the report by an intensive care nurse at an Upper Austrian hospital, interviewed anonymously by the Austria Press Agency, caused a sensation: From Sunday to Monday there were so many deaths there that the corpses had to be “put down in the corridor due to overcrowding”. “You put corona dead people naked in an airtight plastic bag, zip shut, and that’s it.”
Slovakia is threatened with plant closings
Accordingly, there is discussion about extending the “lockdown for unvaccinated people” that was introduced this week. In the “turquoise-green” government in Vienna, the Greens and Health Minister Wolfgang Mückstein have been pushing for additional measures, such as a ban on night-time catering for everyone. The ÖVP and Federal Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg had harshly rejected this. He tried to keep the line that there should be no closings for vaccinated people. On Wednesday, after a meeting of the Council of Ministers, the government no longer ruled out further steps. On Friday will be discussed with the governors.
In the Czech Republic, Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, who will only be in office until a successor is appointed, has announced that from next week a 2-G rule (recovered, vaccinated) will be introduced for restaurants, hotels and events. A negative test is currently sufficient. Slovakia tightened the rules last week. Should the health authorities or the police find infected people at a workplace, they can close the company with immediate effect for a period of up to 30 days. Acts of sabotage and verbal and physical attacks by vaccination opponents and “mask refusers”, as they recently occurred, as well as the falsification of vaccination or test confirmations, are now prosecuted with their own criminal provisions.
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