© Reuters
– Austrian Chancellor Alexander Schalenberg.
Millions of people who have not been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 will be put in lockdown mode. This was announced by Chancellor Alexander Schalenberg.
“We need to increase the proportion of vaccinated. It is shamefully low,” the chancellor told a news conference. The decision was made in coordination between the federal government and the provinces, which held a virtual meeting today, write “Di Prese.”
The measures will not apply to people under 12 years of age.
What is changing
However, all others who have not been vaccinated will be able to leave their homes only in specific cases:
– to go to work;
– to buy basic necessities;
– to go to the doctor;
– to walk;
– to be vaccinated.
They will not be able to visit restaurants, shops that are not for basic necessities, restaurants, gyms, cultural and other events.
About a third of the population
So far, this lockdown is being introduced in 10 days and will cover about a third of the population.
65% are vaccinated in Austria – well above the share in much of Eastern Europe, but far below the average in the West. The third largest party, the Austrian Freedom Party, is among those openly promoting skepticism about vaccines.
This comes at a time when new infections first reached a five-digit number a day. As a result, a lockdown was declared unvaccinated in at least two provinces this week. With today’s expected Schallenberg decision, the measure will cover all provinces.
The Chancellor explained that the 7-day morbidity of the unvaccinated reaches 1,700 cases per 100,000 people with a strong tendency to increase, and of the vaccinated – 383 per 100,000 with a strong tendency to decrease.
The Netherlands has already introduced a partial lockdown this week. New measures are being discussed in Germany after the number of infected people rose sharply to more than 30,000 a day. Even Denmark, which had lifted all restrictions and where the proportion of vaccinated is high, returned some due to an increase in cases.
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