The number of new corona infections continues to drop at a very high level. On Wednesday, ministries reported 34,743, the lowest Wednesday reading since late February. A week ago, there were 53,071 new infections in 24 hours, two weeks ago, even the previous record of 58,583 cases in one day. Another 48 deaths were also recorded on Wednesday. Overall, there was a slight decrease in the number of patients in hospitals.
A total of 3,301 infected people had to be treated in hospitals on Wednesday, 32 fewer than on Tuesday. However, there was an increase in intensive care units. There were now 245 seriously ill patients there, seven more than the day before. Since last Wednesday, there has been an increase of 18 patients, which represents almost eight percent.
The 34,743 new infections are above the seven-day average, with 31,381 new cases daily. The seven-day incidence was 2,446.2 on Wednesday, down from 2,650.2 cases per 100,000 the day before. At the end of March, there were now 373,474 laboratory-confirmed actively infected people across Austria, 9,425 fewer than the day before.
The number of reported deaths is again very high. There have been 48 since Tuesday, with a seven-day average of 40.3 per day. 282 deaths were recorded last week. Overall, the Covid 19 pandemic has claimed 15,812 lives in Austria since its inception. 176.1 people per 100,000 population have already died of or with Covid-19.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, there have been 3,805,155 confirmed cases in Austria. 3,415,869 people are considered recovered. The federal state with the highest seven-day incidence is currently Lower Austria with 2,860.6, followed by Vorarlberg (2,590.6), Vienna (2,559.1) and Upper Austria (2,519.7). This is followed by Burgenland (2,466.9), Styria (2,432.2), Salzburg (2,205.4), Carinthia (2,120.1) and Tyrol (1,452.3).
There are unlimited testing options until Thursday, from Friday only ten per person per month. A total of 810,313 rapid PCR and antigen tests were recorded in the last 24 hours. Of these, 610,965 were significant PCR tests, 5.7 percent were positive. On average, more than 417,800 PCR analyzes were performed every day last week, the positive rate was 7.5%.
As of Tuesday, 3,148 vaccinations were carried out across Austria, of which only 175 were first-bite vaccinations. According to e-vaccination card data, a total of 6,814,487 people have received at least one vaccine. Exactly 6,205,110 people and therefore 69.1% of Austrians have a valid vaccination. More and more certificates are expiring, just last week there were 11,934.
The protection rate (valid vaccination certificate) is highest in Burgenland at 75.3%. In Lower Austria 71.2 percent of the population has valid vaccination protection, in Styria 69.9 percent. After Vienna (68.2), Tyrol (67), Carinthia (66), Salzburg (65.3) and Vorarlberg (65), Upper Austria comes in the rear, as usual, with 64.7 percent.