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Austria entered its third shutdown on Saturday after Christmas restrictions were relaxed and the first doses of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine against the new type of coronavirus began arriving in the country, reports dpa, cited by Agerpres.
The approximately 10,000 doses of vaccine were delivered from Belgium via Germany, Austrian authorities reported. As in many EU countries, the vaccination campaign in Austria will start on Sunday, initially for residents of nursing homes over 80 years old.
Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz has said he expects a third wave of the pandemic to hit Europe in early 2021, before testing and vaccines improve. “I hope I can get back to normal in many areas during the summer. I think testing will become normal in the coming months, like brushing my teeth,” he told the ORF station.
Austria has tightened its restrictions since Saturday. Stores, except for food and pharmacy, will remain closed until January 17. Hairdressers and many other services will be closed, as will cultural and leisure facilities.
Austrians will only be able to leave their homes for good reasons, including physical activity or walking. Contacts with members of other households will be severely restricted.
Many resorts in Austria have been opened with strict quarantine rules or limited to local ones only.
Publisher: Liviu Cojan
