Austria will impose a nationwide lockdown for people who have not been vaccinated against COVID-19, becoming the first country in the world to do so, Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg announced on Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Schallenberg, speaking at a press conference in Tyrol, said the nationwide lockdown is expected to be formally approved at a meeting on Sunday. Random checks will be carried out to ensure compliance with the new restrictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“A lockdown for the unvaccinated means one cannot leave one’s home unless one is going to work, shopping (for essentials), stretching one’s legs – exactly what we all had to suffer through in 2020,” Schallenberg said earlier, according to Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The lockdown for the unvaccinated has already been formally approved in Upper Austria, where restrictions have also been announced for the entire population. This includes a legal requirement to wear an FFP2 mask in all indoor public places and a ban on events for 3 weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Daily coronavirus cases in Austria reached an all-time high this week, with 11,576 new cases on Wednesday alone. A further 11,040 new cases were reported on Friday, along with 40 deaths, which is the highest since April 13.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
About 60 percent of Austria’s population is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, making it the lowest rate in Western Europe, with the exception of tiny Liechtenstein. This means the lockdown will affect roughly 40 percent of the population.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, questions have been raised about the feasibility of a lockdown which applies to only a part of the population. “We don’t live in a police state and we can’t and don’t want to check every street corner,” Schallenberg said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Austria will impose a nationwide lockdown for people who have not been vaccinated against COVID-19, becoming the first country in the world to do so, Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg announced on Friday. Schallenberg, speaking at a press conference in Tyrol, said the nationwide lockdown is expected to be formally approved at a meeting on Sunday. Random […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":32836,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,3],"tags":[1829,1590,15],"class_list":["post-32825","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","category-world","tag-austria","tag-2019-20-outbreak-of-coronavirus","tag-featured"],"yoast_head":"\n