32,419 new corona infections, many more hospitalizations

The number of new corona infections was published on Friday afternoon with a considerable delay. With over 32,000 cases, it is significantly higher than the morning report from the EMS.

The day before the openings across the country, the Corona numbers were again a long time coming. After a considerable delay, 32,419 new cases of Covid-19 were finally reported. Yesterday there were 31,566 new corona infections, a week ago 31,324. In the meantime, the number fell to 20,210 new cases. 36 more corona fatalities were added today, which means that 14,960 people have already died in connection with a Covid 19 infection since the pandemic began two years ago.

52 fewer people than the day before have to be treated in hospital today due to a corona infection. Thus, the number of hospitalized on Friday was 2547 and thus still at a very high level. A week ago, the number of hospitalizations due to Covid-19 was 2478.

The number of intensive care patients, on the other hand, has remained relatively the same for weeks. 193 people currently have to be treated in intensive care due to Corona. That’s 4 more people than yesterday. A week ago the number was exactly the same as today. There were significantly more intensive care patients in mid-January.

Elevated level in newly diagnosed cases

The 32,419 new infections are above the average for the past week, with 28,246 new cases reported every day. There were more infected people on a Friday three weeks ago – on February 11th, with 32,712 other cases. On the last two Fridays there were fewer than 32,000 new infections.

The seven-day incidence rose to 2,213.5 cases per 100,000 population. On Friday there were 287,557 laboratory-confirmed active cases in Austria, 5060 more than the day before. From Saturday – with the exception of Vienna – almost all corona measures will be lifted. Excluded from this are areas with vulnerable people as well as shops for daily use and public transport.

The effective number of reproductions also rose again before the openings. According to the update from the Agency for Health and Food Safety (Ages) and Graz University of Technology, it was now exactly 1, after 0.95 in the past week. This means that, statistically speaking, an infected person is currently infecting another person with the corona virus. In Carinthia, Lower Austria, Upper Austria and Vienna, the effective number of reproductions is below 1. In Burgenland, Salzburg, Styria, Tyrol and Vorarlberg it is above 1. The number of new cases diagnosed every day is at an increased level in all federal states, the experts stated.

235 corona deaths in the last seven days

The number of deaths related to Covid-19 is also very high. 235 deaths have been registered in the past seven days. Since the beginning of the pandemic, 167.5 people per 100,000 inhabitants have died from or with Covid-19.

In the past 24 hours, half as many tests have been carried out as on the previous days. According to figures from the Ministry of the Interior and Health, a total of 405,043 rapid PCR and antigen tests were registered. Of these, 262,804 were meaningful PCR tests, 12.3 percent were positive. This 24-hour value is well above the average for the past week, where 5.9 percent of an average of 481,222 PCR analyzes were positive.

Since the beginning of the pandemic there have already been 2,808,008 confirmed cases in Austria. 2,505,491 people are considered recovered. The federal state with the highest seven-day incidence is currently Vorarlberg with 2424.6, followed by Lower Austria, Upper Austria and Tyrol (2398.2, 2397 and 2293.2 respectively). It is followed by Salzburg (2281.9), Styria (2258), Burgenland (1966.1), Carinthia (1956.6) and Vienna (1897).

Number of vaccinations still low

The number of corona vaccinations administered is still very low. Only 5932 immunizations were administered on Thursday. According to the data from the e-vaccination card, a total of 6,801,209 people have already received at least one vaccination. Exactly 6,244,007 people and thus 69.9 percent of Austrians have a valid vaccination.

The protection rate (valid vaccination certificate) is highest in Burgenland at 76.1 percent. In Lower Austria, 72 percent of the population has a valid vaccination protection, in Styria 70.7 percent. After Vienna (68.9), Tyrol (68.1), Carinthia (66.8), Salzburg (66.1) and Vorarlberg (65.9), Upper Austria brings up the rear with 65.5 percent.

State reports caused a delay

In the early afternoon there was still no report on new infections in the last 24 hours. The figures were only released around 3 a.m. Normally, the numbers are available online by noon at the latest. The reason for the delay was the lack of reports from the federal states. In the past, these have ensured that the current figures were only available hours or even days later.

According to the EMS morning report, 29,693 new cases of Covid-19 were registered in Austria today. However, this figure has not yet been subjected to any data cleansing. Since it also includes duplicate and misreported cases, it is usually higher and should therefore only be used as a guide. Not so on Friday, when the 32,419 new cases were significantly higher.

(APA/ed.)

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