Days after Austria imposed a no-vaccination lockdown, its government on Friday announced the implementation of a full national COVID-19 lockdown starting Monday. With this, Austria will enter a fourth national lockdown as COVID-19 cases continue to rise, becoming the first country in Western Europe to impose stricter measures this fall. Chancellor Alexander Schellenberg said the lockdown would last a maximum of 20 days and would be a legal requirement to get vaccinated from 1 February 2022.
Lockdown again in Austria?
One of the major reasons behind the re-imposition of the lockdown is being attributed to the spike in Covid-19 cases in the country as well as its low level of vaccination. A Reuters report said nearly two-thirds of Austria’s population has been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, one of the lowest rates in Western Europe, while its infections are among the highest on the continent, per With a seven-day incidence of 991 per 100,000 people. ,
Incidentally, Austria introduced a lockdown for all people who had not been vaccinated on Monday, but since then infections have continued to set new records, making it impossible for officials to escape the lockdown.
Health Minister Wolfgang Mückstein said the lockdown was a ‘last resort’, reports the BBC.
Also read: Austria first country in Western Europe to reimpose full Covid lockdown amid fresh wave
While Schellenberg previously rejected the notion of placing all Austrians under lockdown, some members of the country’s coalition government were calling for tighter restrictions on vaccinations as tensions grew in hospitals and ICU units. The government is facing backlash from the country’s third-largest party, the right-wing Freedom Party, which said on Friday that “as of today, Austria is a dictatorship.”
Austria makes vaccination mandatory from February 1
“We don’t want a fifth wave,” Mr Schalenberg said in a BBC report, after meeting with governors of nine Austria’s provinces at a resort in western Austria, also to deliberate on the prevailing vaccine hesitation in the country.
The chancellor said that for a long time it was agreed to avoid compulsory vaccination. However, due to “too many political forces, weak vaccination opponents and fake news”, many people were incensed for not jab, he said.
“We haven’t been able to persuade enough people to get vaccinated,” Chancellor Alexander Schellenberg told a news conference, adding that the lockdown would begin on Monday and vaccination would be required on February 1. It is sad that such measures still have to be taken.”
What are the lockdown measures?
Under the new lockdown measures, Austrians will be asked to work from home. Non-essential shops will remain closed while schools will remain open for children who need to learn face-to-face. The new measures will continue until December 12, but will be re-evaluated after 10 days.
It is the first complete lockdown imposed by an EU country this winter. Salzburg and Upper Austria, the two worst-affected provinces, said on Thursday they would introduce their own lockdowns, increasing pressure on the government to do so at a national level.
The World Health Organization’s regional director for Europe, Hans Kluge, has warned of a harsh winter ahead. He blamed inadequate vaccination coverage with “the easing of preventive measures and the spread of the more permeable delta variant”.
read all breaking news, breaking news And coronavirus news Here. follow us on Facebook, Twitter And Wire,
,