New Year’s Eve: the government wants to ban big celebrations – Coronavirus Vienna

In view of the still high number of infections, the government apparently wants to end the New Year’s Eve parties. The exception rule announced last week will reportedly be tightened again. The chancellor and vice chancellor want to discuss the details with the governors on Friday night. After that, it should be clear what contact restrictions apply on the next vacation.

Basically, the contact restrictions that already apply before the “strict” lockdown currently apply: night visits to other people’s apartments are prohibited between 8 pm and 6 am During the day, six adults can meet (plus six children) from two households. However, the government has announced more generous regulation for holidays. Gatherings of up to ten people from any number of households should be possible on December 24, 25, 26 and 31.

On Friday night, the government wants to discuss with state governors which of these exceptions are justifiable given the high number of infections. According to reports, there should definitely be stricter restrictions on New Years Eve. Another topic should be the massive Covid tests, where Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (ÖVP) has announced a decision on the date of this week’s second round. The countries responsible for implementation had proposed January 8-10.

Kurz and Vice Chancellor Werner Kogler (Greens) want to announce details after the conference with the governors.

Recently, there was a debate on whether Austria ended its “hard lockdown” too soon. Because new infections have decreased since the mid-November peak, but are still higher than in Germany, where further tightening is already being discussed.