In Austria, contrary to expectations and the government’s previous plans, there will be no further openings before Easter regarding restrictions due to the coronavirus epidemic, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz announced on Monday after consultations with experts, the opposition and provincial governors.
According to this, the plan three weeks ago that the garden rooms of the restaurants could open on March 27 also fell into a well. This is due, on the one hand, to the linear increase in the number of new illnesses per day and, on the other hand, to the threat of congestion in the intensive care units of hospitals.
The only province, Vorarlberg, where restaurants, cultural and sports facilities have been open for a week thanks to favorable epidemiological indicators, serves as a model region for other, much more infected provinces in Austria and should not fear further tightening unless the situation worsens.
In the other provinces of Austria, including the capital, there is no further relaxation, so even the garden rooms and terraces of the restaurants cannot be opened.
With the leaders of the three most critical eastern provinces – Lower Austria, Burgenland and Vienna – the government has resumed talks this week to agree on further, possibly austerity measures.
Kurz stressed that in municipalities, districts and districts where the seven-day average illness per one hundred thousand people reaches 400, extraordinary measures will be needed. These include abandonment of the corona virus test or even stricter monitoring of compliance with measures to curb the epidemic. In addition, the load on intensive care beds in hospitals will be crucial for the introduction of further relief, the chancellor added.
“In the coming months, we will still have to live with the virus and not be in a position to jeopardize the viability of our hospitals,” the prime minister said. He therefore again called on the public to take advantage of one of the free testing options. As a result of the expansion of the test campaign, free screening is now being carried out not only in so-called “test streets” but also in pharmacies and many companies to identify asymptomatic people and thereby break the chains of infection.
Speaking about the vaccinations, the chancellor said those over the age of 65 would be held in April, those over the age of 50 in May, and by the summer, two-thirds of the vaccinated population, about five million people, could receive at least the first vaccine.
In Austria, 2,412 people have been newly diagnosed with the virus in the last 24 hours, and 516,565 positive cases have been registered since the outbreak began. The number of people cared for in the hospital is currently 1983, and there are 437 people in need of intensive care. In the past day, 15 people died from the complications of the disease caused by the infection, bringing the number of fatalities to 9089. The number of people who recovered from the disease was 475,227.
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