{"id":112614,"date":"2020-11-15T21:13:01","date_gmt":"2020-11-15T18:13:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/austria-plans-mass-tests-to-help-exit-virus-lockdown\/"},"modified":"2020-11-15T21:13:01","modified_gmt":"2020-11-15T18:13:01","slug":"austria-plans-mass-tests-to-help-exit-virus-lockdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/austria-plans-mass-tests-to-help-exit-virus-lockdown\/","title":{"rendered":"#Austria plans ‘mass tests’ to help exit virus lockdown"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Austria plans ‘mass tests’ to help exit virus lockdown<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

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Austria is planning “mass testing” for coronavirus to help a chart a way out of the second lockdown coming into force next week, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said on Sunday.\n <\/p>\n

Referring to a controversial mass testing programme in neighbouring Slovakia, Kurz told public broadcaster ORF that “we have decided here in Austria… to take a similar step”.<\/p>\n

In Slovakia, two-thirds of the population were tested two weeks ago, with just over one percent testing positive.<\/p>\n

On Saturday Kurz announced Austria was toughening its anti-coronavirus restrictions, shutting schools and shops from Tuesday until December 6 to get spiralling numbers of infections under control and urging Austrians to avoid all social<\/a> contacts.<\/p>\n

On Sunday Kurz said mass testing could help the country re-open in December, but it was not clear if the testing programme would be on the same scale as in Slovakia.<\/p>\n

“We want to deploy mass tests at the end of the lockdown in order to enable a safe re-opening in schools and other areas,” Kurz said, adding that in the first instance testing would be focused on groups such as teachers.<\/p>\n

He app<\/a>eared to suggest the programme could then be widened to other groups in the population to make Christmas celebrations as safe as possible.<\/p>\n

“We know it’s something close to many people’s hearts to be able to celebrate in a half decent way with at least a small number of their loved ones,” Kurz said.<\/p>\n

He said that more details of the programme would be given next week.<\/p>\n

The programme in Slovakia has involved the use of antigen tests.<\/p>\n

They give far quicker results than PCR tests, which involve nasal swabs that have to be sent to a laboratory, but they are less reliable.<\/p>\n

Kurz said that the advent of antigen tests meant “we finally have the possibility of buying millions of tests”, although he admitted that rolling out a large testing programme would be a “logistical challenge”.<\/p>\n

Kurz himself has faced criticism for failing to take tougher action earlier in the autumn when coronavirus infections began to spike. <\/p>\n

A partial lockdown was imposed two weeks ago in which non-essential shops were allowed to stay open but this failed to halt the spread of the virus.<\/p>\n

The nation of 8.8 million escaped relatively lightly during the first wave of the pandemic but the health system has started to come under strain in the second wave.<\/p>\n

Sunday’s new infection figure of 5,665 was lower than in recent days, with the number of active infections actually decreasing for the first time since October 2.<\/p>\n

But the number of patients in intensive care has gone up by 30 percent in a week and is now at almost 600.<\/p>\n

A total of 1,829 people have died after contracting the virus in Austria.\n <\/p>\n\n

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Follow the latest news<\/a> on the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak\n <\/p><\/div>\n

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\n \u00a9 2020 AFP<\/p>\n

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Citation<\/strong>:
\n Austria plans ‘mass tests’ to help exit virus lockdown (2020, November 15)
\n retrieved 15 November 2020
\n from https:\/\/medicalxpress.com\/news\/2020-11-austria-mass-exit-virus-lockdown.html<\/p>\n

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