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After Christmas, a complete shutdown will take place in Austria again from December 26 due to the coronavirus epidemic, the Austrian government announced on Friday evening, according to MTI.
The all-day curfew will be restored and shops in Austria will be closed. Service providers that require close contact, such as hairdressers and estheticians, are also not allowed. The total closure will last until January 18, and the general inauguration will be preceded by a massive screening, and those who do not show up will remain closed for another week, until January 24.
Although the total shutdown in November managed to reduce the number of new illnesses per day, the number of hospitalized people needing intensive care and especially deaths remains very high, which threatens the Austrian health system, the government explained Friday night . .
“Even if for a short time, stores could open and we could still spend Christmas with our loved ones, so our efforts were effective,” Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz said at a press conference after talks with provincial leaders. . After December 26, only stores and pharmacies that sell basic necessities will be open. The restaurants, venues, bars are already closed and will remain so until January 18.
There is a 24 hour curfew
The curfew will once again be 24 hours and it will only be possible to go outside for special reasons: going to work, buying basic necessities, helping others or practicing individual sports in the open air.
The decision to open the ski slopes was handed over to the provinces by the government, however, it ordered the mandatory use of a face mask of category FFP2 on the lifts and lifts.
Schools are starting the new year in distance education, and normal schooling is also expected on January 18.
Massive test
On the weekend leading up to the opening on January 18, massive testing will take place across the country, and those that do not submit will be subject to a new one-week shutdown until January 24. This means that while commercial units, restaurants, cultural and sports facilities may open on January 18, those who do not have a negative test will not be able to visit these places for another week. Whenever possible, the staff will verify the negative test result at the entrance, reception, where this is not feasible, the police will conduct random checks.
In addition, certain occupations, such as healthcare workers, elderly caregivers, touch providers, waiters, teachers, and customers, also take one or two mandatory tests per week.
I refuse to get used to the fact that the number of our dead is in three digits a day.
stressed the Minister of Health Rudolf Anschober. He drew attention to the fact that there is still a high level of congestion in the country’s intensive care units, and this should be significantly reduced.
We are halfway there, the figures have improved, but without austerity the epidemic would spread again
added.
If you want to travel to Austria, you can expect
Interior Minister Karl Nehammer has reaffirmed previously decided entry restrictions, which will take effect on December 19 and are expected to last until January 11. According to them, anyone who wishes to enter the territory of Austria during this time must be subject to a 10-day quarantine and can only be examined on the fifth day of the quarantine.
The chancellor announced the start of vaccination against the coronavirus on December 27, but stressed that until large-scale vaccination of the population begins and they can return to normal life, everyone must comply with the protection regulations.
In Austria, 2,085 people have been recently diagnosed with the virus in the last 24 hours and 334,913 cases have been recorded since the outbreak began. The number of people hospitalized with the coronavirus disease is 3,073 and the number of people in need of intensive care is 495. 145 people died from complications of the infection last day, bringing the death toll to 5,127.
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