Austria ends corona lockdown - chancellor promises even more far-reaching easing

Created: 2022-01-27 05:29

By: Patrick Mayer

Chancellor of Austria: Karl Nehammer.

© Lisa Leutner/AP/dpa

In the corona pandemic, Austria declares the lockdown for unvaccinated people to be over.

Despite the rapidly increasing number of infections, Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) cites the intensive care units as the reason.

Munich/Vienna – Austria* defuses its measures in the coronavirus pandemic*: As Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP)* and Wolfgang Mückstein (Greens) announced this Wednesday, the lockdown for the unvaccinated will end next Monday (January 31). .

Corona pandemic in Austria: lockdown for the unvaccinated is ended

The lockdown for unvaccinated people has been “a measure that many people have complained about, but was unavoidable for health policy reasons,” said Nehammer at a press conference in Vienna. According to a statement by the Austrian federal government, the omicron variant of the virus “does not affect hospital capacities as much as feared”. The experts on the GECKO committee, who are proposing concrete corona rules to Nehammer’s cabinet, would “no longer consider it sensible” to lock down the unvaccinated.

The Federal Chancellery assesses the situation in the intensive care units between Vienna, Linz, Salzburg, Innsbruck and Graz as “relaxed for the time being”.

And that despite the fact that the number of corona infections in Austria had reached an all-time high this Wednesday (January 26).

The Federal Ministry of Health reported 34,011 newly registered corona cases within 24 hours.

For comparison: With around 8.9 million inhabitants in the Alpine republic, the figures have to be classified in a ratio of around one tenth compared to Germany.

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Therefore, all other applicable Covid measures remain in place for the time being.

The 2G rule will remain in place in many public areas such as leisure facilities, at events and in so-called non-essential retail.

In addition, the curfew of 10 p.m. still applies in gastronomy.

Despite Omikron: Corona loosening in Austria soon?

However, Nehammer indicated before the Council of Ministers on Wednesday that there could soon be more far-reaching easing in Austria*.

“Our top priority is to keep the restrictions as low as possible and only for as long as absolutely necessary,” explained the 49-year-old Viennese: “The lockdown for the unvaccinated is one of the strictest measures that can be taken.

The situation in the hospitals allows us to end this now.”

*