Published 09:25 IST, March 4th 2021
Austria plans to vaccinate area hit by UK variant of coronavirus
Austria is mulling to vaccinate an entire district, residents of whom have been hit by the South African variant of the coronavirus, Associated Press reported.
Austria is mulling to vaccinate an entire district, residents of whom have been hit by the South African variant of the coronavirus, Associated Press reported. Schwaz district located in Tyrol province of the landlocked recently accounts for 66 out of the total 88 people diagnosed to be infected by African variant. Although the country began its inoculation earlier in December, the district with 84,000 people remains devoid of vaccine jabs.
The new plan was announced on March 3 and calls for an inoculation drive as early as next week. Elaborating on the same, the country’s health minister Rudolf Anschober said the rollout will see vaccinations offered to all aged 16 and over. Austrian Press Agency reported that from around March 10, coinciding with the start of the drive and until it is complete, residents of the Tyrol province would require a negative COVID test to fly.
Apart from stepping up its targeted vaccination move, Austria has put its faith in testing to minimize COVID-19 infection in the country. Starting March 1, Austrian authorities are distributing coronavirus tests to its 8.8 million residents, totally free of cost. While the country is currently under lockdown, the measure they believe could help revive the businesses.
Speaking to media reporters in Vienna, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz asserted that with increased testing, they aim to control the incidences of coronavirus infection or at least mitigate the infection rate in the country. “We were on our way to becoming world champion,” he further quipped.
vaccinated over 500,000 people
As of now, Austria has vaccinated over 500,000 people with 200,000 out of them receiving both doses. In March, the landlocked country is expecting a delivery of more than one million doses. The second quarter of 2021 should provide Austria three times the delivery volume of the first quarter. As a part of the EU, the country has approved three vaccine candidates as now- Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca/OxfordUniversity.
Image Credits: Associated Press
Updated 09:25 IST, March 4th 2021