BERLIN (AP) – Austria will initiate a new nationwide lockdown to contain the fourth wave of the coronavirus pandemic, Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg announced on Friday.
The lockdown will begin on Monday and will initially last 10 days, Schallenberg added. At this time, most stores will close their doors and cultural events will be canceled.
At first, the chancellor indicated that all students will return to online classes. But Health Minister Wolfgang Mueckstein later said schools will open for those who need them although parents will be asked to try to leave them at home whenever possible.
In addition, as of February 1, vaccination against COVID-19 will be mandatory in the country, according to the public television station ORF.
“We don’t want a fifth wave,” Schallenberg told ORF. “We don’t want a sixth or a seventh either.”
Austria had initially decreed a quarantine for unvaccinated people, which began on Monday, but given the continued increase in infections, the government said it had no alternative but to extend it to the entire population.
“This is very painful,” Schallenberg said.
After 10 days of confinement, its effects will be evaluated and, if infections have not decreased enough, the measure could be extended to a maximum of 20 days.
Austria, a nation of 8.9 million people, has one of the lowest vaccination rates in Western Europe. In the past seven days, the country reported more than 10,000 new cases every day. Hospitals are saturated with COVID-19 patients and deaths from the coronavirus are on the rise again.
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