“The situation is serious (…). We are not taking this measure with a light heart, but unfortunately it is necessary, ”Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg said.
The Austrian Chancellor announced on Sunday the entry into force on Monday of a lockdown for people who have not been vaccinated or who have not recently contracted Covid-19, in an attempt to stem the record number of new cases. “The situation is serious (…). We do not take this measure with a light heart but unfortunately it is necessaryAlexander Schallenberg said at a press conference in Vienna.
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About 65% of the population received both doses of the vaccine in Austria, which is lower than the European average of 67% and far from countries like Spain (79%) or France (75%). Alexander Schallenberg described this rate as “shamefully low“, When he reported on this containment project on Friday.
From 12 years old
Concretely, the people concerned will not have the right to leave their home except for shopping, sports or for medical care. The measure applies from the age of 12. Unannounced checks will be carried out.
The government will assess the effect of these restrictions in 10 days, Health Minister Wolfgang Mückstein said on Sunday, calling on the refractory to be vaccinated as soon as possible.
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Parliament must approve the measure in the evening, a priori a simple formality. More than 13,000 new cases were recorded on Saturday in this country of 9.8 million inhabitants, the highest since the start of the pandemic.