The Austrians who refuse vaccination, soon ordered to stay locked up at home. In order to cope with the record number of new Covid-19 contaminations, the Austrian Chancellor announced on Friday that he wanted to “give the green light to national containment for people who are not vaccinated” or who do not have an antibody certificate. Alexander Schallenberg did not specify the date of entry into force of this measure. This will nevertheless first have to receive the approval of Parliament on Sunday.
The chancellor called the vaccination rate of the population “shamefully low”. Almost 65% of Austrians have received both doses of the vaccine, which is lower than the European average of 67% and far from countries like Spain (79%) or France (75%).
Prohibition on going out except for shopping, sports and medical care
The regions of Upper Austria and that of Salzburg, among the most affected, will already introduce this confinement from Monday. Concretely, they will not have the right to leave their home except for shopping, sports or for medical care. According to the Chancellor, “unannounced” checks will be carried out.
For the measure to apply to the whole country, it is necessary, in addition to the vote of the Parliament, the approval of all the regional governors, who will meet during the weekend.
Compulsory vaccination for health workers
The government was reluctant to take such a step, Schallenberg said, but had no other choice in the face of the rapidly deteriorating situation: more than 10,000 new cases are currently recorded every day in the 9-nation country. 8 million inhabitants. “The majority of the population, who did what was necessary (by vaccinating), must now also protect themselves”, he lamented, launching a new appeal to the refractory.
This announcement aroused criticism in the political class, the social democratic opposition seeing there “an admission of guilt of the government in its management of the pandemic”. To date, more than 11,640 people have died from Covid-19 in Austria.
The Minister of Health, Wolfgang Mueckstein, also announced Friday that he would make compulsory the vaccination of health personnel. The government had already tightened the measures last week, by banning the unvaccinated from restaurants, hotels and cultural places. A negative test for Covid-19 is no longer sufficient.