On Sunday, the Austrian chancellor announced the entry into force of the lockdown on Monday for people who have not been vaccinated or who have not recently contracted COVID-19, in a bid to stem the record number of new cases.
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“The situation is dangerous (…). We do not take this step with a calm heart, but unfortunately this is necessary,” Alexander Schallenberg said at a press conference in Vienna.
About 65% of the population received two doses of the vaccine in Austria, which is lower than the European average of 67% and far from countries such as Spain (79%) or France (75%).
Mr. Schallenberg described the rate as “shamefully low” when he reported on this containment project on Friday.
Concretely, the people involved will not have the right to leave their homes except for shopping, sports or medical care. This procedure is applied from the age of 12.
Unannounced checks will be executed.
On Sunday, Health Minister Wolfgang Mochstein said the government would assess the impact of these restrictions within 10 days, calling for heat-resistant vaccination as soon as possible.
Parliament must approve the procedure in the evening, as a simple formality.
And more than 13,000 new cases were recorded on Saturday in this country of 9.8 million people, the highest rate since the beginning of the epidemic.