Non-essential shops have closed and Austrians are being asked to work from home if possible.įewer than 66 percent of Austria’s 8.9 million people are fully vaccinated, and inoculations have plateaued at one of the lowest rates in Western Europe.Īs it locks down again, Austria is also introducing a vaccine mandate as of February 1 in a bid to curtail transmission rates, making it the first European country to enshrine inoculation against COVID-19 as a legal requirement.
Under the measures, people can only leave home for specific reasons, including buying groceries, going to the doctor, or exercising.
Europe lockdown full#
It makes Austria the first Western European country to reimpose a full shutdown since vaccines became widely available. The lockdown will last at least 10 days but could extend to 20, officials said. Monday’s move in the Alpine nation comes as average daily deaths have tripled in recent weeks and hospitals in heavily hit states warn that their intensive care units are approaching peak capacity. Meanwhile, Austria has re-entered a full national lockdown in an effort to contain rocketing coronavirus infections. Signs inform guests of a restaurant that access is given only to people who are vaccinated, tested negative or who have recovered from COVID-19 in Munich Cases surge in Austria “We have a very, very difficult situation in many hospitals,” Spahn said. The European Union’s most populous country, Germany added another 30,643 cases on Monday, according to the Robert Koch Institute health agency, bringing the total since the start of the pandemic to just more than 5.3 million.Īlmost 100,000 people have died so far, including 62 during the past 24 hours.
“We have a highly dramatic situation” as new infections “double every 12 days”, Merkel told a meeting of leaders of her conservative CDU party, according to participants. Outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel warned that Germany’s current COVID restrictions, including barring the unvaccinated from certain public spaces “are not enough”.
In regions with high hospitalisation rates, the unvaccinated will be barred from public spaces like cinemas, gyms and indoor dining. “Probably by the end of this winter, as is sometimes cynically said, pretty much everyone in Germany will be vaccinated, cured or dead,” Jens Spahn said, as he urged more Germans to get the jab.Īs intensive care beds fill up fast, Germany’s worst-hit regions have ordered new shutdowns, including the closure of Christmas markets. The German health minister has warned citizens that they would be either “vaccinated, cured or dead” from COVID-19 by the end of winter as several European countries impose restrictions amid surging infections.
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