Austria Announces Nationwide Vaccine Mandate, Full-Scale Covid-19 Lockdown
Topline
Austria will enter one other nationwide Covid-19 lockdown and can make vaccination obligatory from February, Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg introduced Friday, turning into one of many few international locations on this planet to take the drastic step to mandate photographs because it struggles to spice up stagnant vaccination charges and include report ranges of Covid-19.
Austria will enter a brand new nationwide lockdown on Monday.
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Key Details
Austria’s newl lockdown begins Monday, Schallenberg stated, and can final a most of 20 days.
Austria is the primary European nation to reimpose a full nationwide lockdown since spring and the transfer comes days after a focused lockdown on unvaccinated individuals.
Vaccination towards Covid-19 may also be obligatory from February 1, Schallenberg stated, making Austria one of many solely international locations on this planet and the primary in Europe to introduce a nationwide mandate.
Schallenberg said the nation has “to face actuality,” acknowledging that latest measures have been inadequate to spice up vaccination charges amid the nation’s sky-high coronavirus charges.
The lockdown for the unvaccinated will stay in place after the broader nationwide lockdown ends, Schallenberg said.
Key Background
Austria has a number of the highest Covid-19 case charges and lowest vaccination charges in Europe. Regardless of a prepared availability of secure and efficient vaccines, round two-thirds of the inhabitants is totally vaccinated. Different European international locations are additionally going through a renewed surge of Covid-19 and are beginning to crack down on vaccine holdouts in a bid to regulate rising infections.
Huge Quantity
9 million. That’s roughly how many individuals shall be affected by the nationwide lockdown in Austria. Roughly 2 million are believed to be unvaccinated and are already going through lockdown restrictions. Relative to inhabitants, Austria has one of many worst coronavirus outbreaks on this planet. In accordance with data collated by Our World In Information, the each day variety of new confirmed Covid-19 instances during the last week is beneath simply Slovakia and Slovenia.
Additional Studying
Austria Sends Unvaccinated Into Lockdown—Right here’s How Different Nations Are Limiting Folks Who Don’t Get Covid-19 Pictures (Forbes)
Lockdown And Restrictions Resurface In Europe As Continent Battles One other Covid Surge (Forbes)
‘Nein Danke’: the resistance to Covid-19 vaccines in German-speaking Europe (FT)
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