Today in Austria: A roundup of the latest news on Thursday
Covid cases on the rise, Austria's real estate market heats up, free month of travel for 'climate ticket' holders and more news from Austria on Thursday.
Covid cases go up due to new variants
The number of Covid-19 cases registered on Wednesdays have doubled, going from 3,400 last week to almost 7,000 this week. Testing has also decreased, meaning many cases will not be registered. There are currently 511 people in the hospitals, 34 of them in intensive care.
The Covid prognosis consortium believes that the omicron subvariant BA.4/BA.5 is “largely” responsible for the increase. These variants are currently responsible for 30 percent of cases, up from 18 percent the week before. It is expected the new variants will become dominant within the next week, further accelerating the growth of new infections, broacaster ORF reports.
READ ALSO: Is Austria heading for a summer Covid wave and could face masks return?
Free month of train travel for 'climate ticket' holders
People who hold the newly introduced Klima (climate) ticket, which gives unlimited travel on public transport in Austria, will get an extra month free as an inflation busting measure. The promotion applies to new customers as well as to an extension of the public transport card. "Especially in times of high fuel prices, public transport is a climate-friendly and cost-saving alternative," Climate Protection Minister Leonore Gewessler (Greens) said.
READ MORE: Austria's nationwide public transport 'climate ticket' now available
Austria’ epidemic act changed to replace Covid quarantine with ‘traffic light’ measures
Austria’s National Council has changed the Epidemic Act to reflect the changes to the pandemic brought by the omicron variant. In future, rather than making a quarantine necessary, the Minister of Health can instead impose traffic restrictions which prohibit people from taking part in certain activities, but do not require complete isolation. The far right FPÖ party fears that this measure could mean demonstrations against coronavirus restrictions would be banned.
It was also decided that the health authorities will in future be able to prioritize and restrict contact tracing at peak times, if the service threatens to becomes overwhelmed. In addition, the legal basis was created for the Minister of Health to be able to send a letter reminding people to get their booster vaccination against Covid-19.
Austria’s Covid Traffic light commission sends three states back into ‘medium risk’
The increasing number of infections in Austria are now reflected in the country’s coronavirus traffic light. Three federal states have slipped back into the medium-risk area. These are Vienna, Salzburg and Vorarlberg, which were given a yellow rating by the responsible commission because their risk number has risen above 25. The remaining countries remain in the green-yellow zone of low risk. The colours were set according to different criteria this week than the previous week, due to the new omicron calculations, testing numbers or test positivity scores are no longer reflected in the traffic light colour.
Slovenia to change its price cap on fuel
Refuelling cars in Slovenia will be more expensive at motorways from next week. The new government is abandoning the price cap introduced by the previous government a month ago and will introduce a two-tier pricing model next Tuesday. As a result, the fuel prices at the motorway filling stations will now reflect market values, while away from motorways, they are regulated by the state determining the margins. The new regulation will apply for twelve months.
Austria’s real estate market is heating up
Austria’s housing market is getting overheated according to the Austrian National Bank (OeNB). For around ten years, real estate prices have risen much faster than household incomes. Nonetheless, more and more people are taking out mortgages, particularly in the past year
"For the sixth quarter in a row, prices have risen above the 10 percent mark. This development points in the completely wrong direction," said Birgit Niessner, Director of the OeNB's Economics Department, Der Standard newspaper reports. However, mitigating factors include Austria’s strong rental market, low interest rates and households with high incomes.
New rules around mortgages are expected to be unveiled in July. It will mean borrowers must raise 20 percent of the sum from their own funds. The loan installment must not exceed 40 percent of the net household income, and the loan term should be limited to a maximum of 35 years.
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Covid cases go up due to new variants
The number of Covid-19 cases registered on Wednesdays have doubled, going from 3,400 last week to almost 7,000 this week. Testing has also decreased, meaning many cases will not be registered. There are currently 511 people in the hospitals, 34 of them in intensive care.
The Covid prognosis consortium believes that the omicron subvariant BA.4/BA.5 is “largely” responsible for the increase. These variants are currently responsible for 30 percent of cases, up from 18 percent the week before. It is expected the new variants will become dominant within the next week, further accelerating the growth of new infections, broacaster ORF reports.
READ ALSO: Is Austria heading for a summer Covid wave and could face masks return?
Free month of train travel for 'climate ticket' holders
People who hold the newly introduced Klima (climate) ticket, which gives unlimited travel on public transport in Austria, will get an extra month free as an inflation busting measure. The promotion applies to new customers as well as to an extension of the public transport card. "Especially in times of high fuel prices, public transport is a climate-friendly and cost-saving alternative," Climate Protection Minister Leonore Gewessler (Greens) said.
READ MORE: Austria's nationwide public transport 'climate ticket' now available
Austria’ epidemic act changed to replace Covid quarantine with ‘traffic light’ measures
Austria’s National Council has changed the Epidemic Act to reflect the changes to the pandemic brought by the omicron variant. In future, rather than making a quarantine necessary, the Minister of Health can instead impose traffic restrictions which prohibit people from taking part in certain activities, but do not require complete isolation. The far right FPÖ party fears that this measure could mean demonstrations against coronavirus restrictions would be banned.
It was also decided that the health authorities will in future be able to prioritize and restrict contact tracing at peak times, if the service threatens to becomes overwhelmed. In addition, the legal basis was created for the Minister of Health to be able to send a letter reminding people to get their booster vaccination against Covid-19.
Austria’s Covid Traffic light commission sends three states back into ‘medium risk’
The increasing number of infections in Austria are now reflected in the country’s coronavirus traffic light. Three federal states have slipped back into the medium-risk area. These are Vienna, Salzburg and Vorarlberg, which were given a yellow rating by the responsible commission because their risk number has risen above 25. The remaining countries remain in the green-yellow zone of low risk. The colours were set according to different criteria this week than the previous week, due to the new omicron calculations, testing numbers or test positivity scores are no longer reflected in the traffic light colour.
Slovenia to change its price cap on fuel
Refuelling cars in Slovenia will be more expensive at motorways from next week. The new government is abandoning the price cap introduced by the previous government a month ago and will introduce a two-tier pricing model next Tuesday. As a result, the fuel prices at the motorway filling stations will now reflect market values, while away from motorways, they are regulated by the state determining the margins. The new regulation will apply for twelve months.
Austria’s real estate market is heating up
Austria’s housing market is getting overheated according to the Austrian National Bank (OeNB). For around ten years, real estate prices have risen much faster than household incomes. Nonetheless, more and more people are taking out mortgages, particularly in the past year
"For the sixth quarter in a row, prices have risen above the 10 percent mark. This development points in the completely wrong direction," said Birgit Niessner, Director of the OeNB's Economics Department, Der Standard newspaper reports. However, mitigating factors include Austria’s strong rental market, low interest rates and households with high incomes.
New rules around mortgages are expected to be unveiled in July. It will mean borrowers must raise 20 percent of the sum from their own funds. The loan installment must not exceed 40 percent of the net household income, and the loan term should be limited to a maximum of 35 years.
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