"No time to celebrate": Austria tightened Corona measures on New Year's Eve
Created: 12/22/2021, 05:23 PM
From: Tom Offinger
Just in time for the holidays, Austria is also tightening its measures in the wake of the impending Omikron wave.
Especially at the turn of the year it will be quiet in the Alpine republic.
Vienna / Munich - The three-week corona lockdown has barely ended when the residents of our southern neighboring country have to adjust to the tightening of the existing measures.
While the Omikron variant is causing the number of infections to skyrocket in Great Britain and Denmark, Austria is reducing public life around New Year's Eve.
The country’s leading politicians announced this at a specially convened Omikron summit.
Corona in Austria: New Year's Eve is "no time to celebrate"
The new regulations are to take effect from December 27th, as in Bavaria there is a curfew for restaurants from 10 p.m.
There is no precise period of time for the duration of the measures, the Austrian media expect the regulations to be adjusted depending on the course of the coming days and weeks.
“We drive on sight,” explained the Secretary General for Public Health, Katharina Reich, who is also at the head of the new “Gecko” advisory body.
Another meeting is planned for the coming week.
Similar to Germany, New Year's Eve celebrations are not forbidden per se, but Reich and its committee strongly advise against this: "Celebrate in a small, safe circle, let yourself be tested."
On 01.01.2022 applies, it is rather an "important signal", it is now "no time to celebrate".
Hotels are also not exempt from this regulation, which the many ski sports tourists in particular should notice at the turn of the year.
Entrants from the so-called "variant states", i.e. Great Britain, Norway, Denmark and the Netherlands, must definitely be in quarantine from December 25th.
This does not apply to travelers with a triple vaccination and a negative PCR test.
Corona in Austria: Public life is being shut down
In addition to gastronomy, other areas of public life in the Alpine republic are also to be restricted:
Events are limited to a number of 2,000 participants (subject to conditions).
Meetings without fixed seats are limited to 25 people (indoors and outdoors).
The 2G regulation and FFP2 mask requirement continue to apply.
Meetings with assigned seats are limited to 500 people (2G rule plus FFP2 mask requirement; a higher number of participants is possible with stricter rules).
A lockdown is currently not an issue.
"The aim now is to gain time to empty the intensive care units before the new wave rolls towards us," said Lieutenant General Norbert Gehart, summarizing the decisions.
Together with Reich, he also renewed the vaccination appeal to the Austrian population.
“Test summit” is to follow this week
In addition to today's Corona summit, Austria is planning a “test summit” this week at which the test capacities of all federal states are to be checked.
As Reich assured, there was a consensus among those present to make a test available to all people during the holidays if necessary.
At the same time, initial preparations are being made to secure the critical infrastructure.
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