Status: 11/19/2021 10:59 a.m.
Austria will impose a nationwide lockdown from Monday. This was announced by Chancellor Schallenberg. In addition, compulsory vaccination is to be introduced in February. The background to this is the massive increase in corona numbers with ever new record values.
In view of the extremely high Corona numbers, Austria has decided on a nationwide lockdown. This should apply from Monday for a maximum of 20 days, said Austria’s Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg.
The measure should be reviewed after ten days. By December 13th at the latest, the lockdown will be over for those who have been vaccinated and recovered, said Schallenberg. Then the 2G rule should apply again.
Vaccination compulsory from February 2022
In addition, a nationwide compulsory vaccination should be introduced from February 1, 2022. “For a long time there was political consensus not to introduce compulsory vaccinations,” said Schallenberg. “But we have to look reality in the eye.” Despite massive efforts, it was not possible to get enough people to vaccinate. “The consequences are full intensive care units and enormous human suffering,” said Schallenberg.
“We don’t want a fifth wave, we don’t want a sixth and seventh wave.” The virus will not go away, it will stay. The lockdown is a difficult step. “That hurts a lot,” said the Chancellor. Without naming them, he heavily criticized the right wing FPÖ, which is influential in Austria. Their vaccination criticism is an “attack on our health system”.
Austria reports an incidence of almost 1000
Like many European countries, Austria is currently fighting a violent corona wave with new highs for new infections. On Thursday, the authorities reported a record 15,145 infections within 24 hours. This has exceeded the threshold of one million confirmed infections since the start of the pandemic in the country with around 8.9 million inhabitants.
The seven-day incidence in Austria is almost 1000 and for more than a week more than 10,000 new infections with the coronavirus have been reported every day, which means that the clinics are reaching their capacity limits. The situation is particularly dramatic in Salzburg and Upper Austria, with incidences of over 1,500 per 100,000 inhabitants.
Previous measures included a 3G rule in the workplace. Employees must prove that they have been vaccinated, recovered or tested. On November 8th, the 2G rule for events, gastronomy and tourism followed, which denied unvaccinated access to large areas in their free time.