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“A second blockade will take effect from Tuesday until the end of November,” Conservative Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz told a press conference in Vienna.
Leaving the house between 8 pm and 6 am will be prohibited, and private gatherings will be limited to a maximum of two families, he said, warning that social life would be “dramatically” affected.
Beyond the closure of museums, theaters, cinemas or swimming pools, all events are canceled except funerals, which include weddings, birthday parties and Christmas fairs, a tradition that usually attracts millions of visitors each year to the country. AFP.
Fans are prohibited from participating in high-level sporting events, and amateur sports can only be performed outdoors and without physical contact.
Unlike the spring measures, schools and daycare centers will remain open, as will shops, hair salons, and barbershops. In the case of high schools and universities, courses will be conducted online, while telecommuting is highly recommended.
The measures must be approved by parliament on Sunday and the traffic ban must be re-approved by parliament every 10 days, writes DPA.
Austria, which has been relatively spared from the first wave, has seen an explosion in the number of infections in recent weeks.
The country of 8.8 million people now has more than 5,000 cases a day, up from 1,000 in early October, and hospitals are seeing a growing influx of patients. It also accounted for 1,109 deaths since the pandemic broke out.
On Saturday, Austria reported 5,349 new cases in the past 24 hours, after announcing a record 5,627 on Friday.
“If we do not act now, the intensive care units will be saturated,” warned the chancellor, who does not forecast a reversal of the trend before “no more than 7 to 14 days.”
Previously, he said he wanted to “do everything possible to avoid further isolation” after the spring restrictions that pushed the economy into recession, but had to decide on these new measures in the face of the rapidly deteriorating health situation.
Catering and tourism companies immediately regretted these new measures, asking for financial help, but resignation seems to dominate the population.
According to Reuters, companies forced to close will receive aid worth 80% of their sales a year earlier.
Sebastian Kurz said he expected to return to a more normal life and “more freedom” in December, given the end of the year holidays.
The measures taken by Austria are very similar to those set by neighboring Germany, which has less than half its infection, according to the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), writes Reuters. In the past two weeks, Austria has recorded as many cases as the United Kingdom or Italy, countries with a population of about 60 million, according to the ECDC. And in the last week there has been a rapid acceleration, with a jump of 26% from Thursday to Friday.
