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According to Federal Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (ÖVP), the “free trials” scheduled for mid-January will be carried out in the catering sector by the health authorities. In the culture, sports or tourism sector, operators will be responsible for the review, Kurz said on Wednesday in “ZiB 2”. The gastronomy can be used from January 18 with a one-week crown test, for the rest of the facilities the test will have a maximum of 48 hours.
Everywhere “where one is used to showing a ticket or in tourism the registration form” will be required to show negative proof. The operator will be responsible for the control. For random checks in the catering sector, the health authority “may also enlist the help of other authorities, such as the police,” Kurz said.
At the same time, the Chancellor emphasized that it was a “mistaken belief” that the catering business could be open 24 hours a day from January 18. “Other security concepts will also be needed. We can get back to normal next year, but a few months will still be very demanding.”
No changes to the law for “free trials” since the crash
A change in the law is still necessary for the first “free trials” of the shutdown, which will be open until January 24 and which, according to government plans, should start on January 15. According to media reports, the first draft of the laws was already circulating Wednesday night, but no official draft was available at the end of the night. Not only cultural events, wedding celebrations, sporting events or restaurant visits should reportedly be covered by the mandatory test, but also private sector events.
Kurz dismisses concerns
Kurz dismissed constitutional lawyers’ concern that the planned “freestyle” could be unconstitutional. You will always find a constitutional attorney to raise concerns, he said. “Free trials” are a new and complex area. The government has worked very hard in recent weeks to develop a “sophisticated model.”
“No vaccination break”
Kurz wiped criticism of the vacillating new vaccines off the table. “There is no vaccination pause, but what we said is happening now: that the vaccines will be delivered in installments.” The Chancellor said that an initial delivery of 60,000 doses of vaccines per week is expected from January.
Compared to Israel, where more than 600,000 people have already been vaccinated, Kurz said the country had gone for the right horse with manufacturer Pfizer Biontech. The EU has signed contracts with six companies, “without knowing which company will make the fastest progress.” The question now is whether the AstraZeneca approval will be successful, “then we (in Austria, note) will have the opportunity to vaccinate more than 500,000 people in the first quarter.”
“We demand everything we can get through the European Union in contracting. We cannot ask for more because we have agreed in the European Union that we will not negotiate individually with pharmaceutical companies so as not to compete internally, they see”, according to Kurz. He did not want to criticize the EU acquisition process: no one could have known that Pfizer Biontech would be the first vaccine to be approved. Now we must fight to ensure that the new approval of the vaccine – “if scientific standards are met” – proceed as “quickly and without bureaucracy” as possible, he emphasized.
(Those: APA)
