Austria prints a postage stamp to remember COVID-19 by, on toilet paper

Oesterreichische Post AG

23/10/2020 16:26

VIENNA, Oct 23 (Reuters) - Austria's postal service has
united two aspects of the coronavirus pandemic in a stamp
printed on toilet paper that people can also, at a push, use for
social distancing.
    The 2.75 euro "corona stamp" comes in sheets 10 cm wide, or
a tenth of the 1 metre that the government advises members of
the public to keep apart from each other, symbolised in official
campaigns by a baby elephant.
    "If you put 10 stamp sheets end to end, you get a metre's
distance in total - or the length of a baby elephant. The famous
baby animal is also printed on the stamp," Austrian Post
 POST.VI  said in a statement on Friday.
    The novelty item is printed on three-ply toilet paper, in
reference to the hoarding that occurred earlier this year, an
urge that has recently started rearing its head again.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N2HD29R
    Austrian Post has poked fun at current events before. In
January it issued a Brexit stamp with the previously planned
date of Britain's departure from the European Union, March 29,
2019, crossed out and the new date of Jan. 31, 2020 underneath -
an apparent wink at the drawn-out negotiations.
    The corona stamp will be sold at twice its face value, with
the mark-up going to charity.

 (Reporting by Francois Murphy; Editing by Giles Elgood)
 ((francois.murphy@thomsonreuters.com; +43 1 531 12 254;))