Austria announced this Sunday (14) that it will establish a lockdown for people not vaccinated against Covid-19, who can only leave their homes for essential activities. The measure will take effect this Monday (15) and is an attempt to contain a new wave of infections in the country, which reached a record level – the fourth highest rate of new cases in the world.
It is the first European country to resume strict confinement, along the same lines as those applied before vaccination began, although this time it affects a minority of the population. But he is not the only one to tighten the grip on trying to deal with the increase in cases and deaths, which has once again placed Europe at the epicenter of the pandemic.
The Netherlands also returned to adopting stricter measures of social isolation, announced last Friday (12), but, unlike Austria, they apply to the entire population. Since Saturday, restaurants, stores and supermarkets closed earlier, in principle for a period of three weeks.
In Germany, the Berlin government has prevented since last Thursday (11) the entry of unvaccinated people in spaces such as restaurants, museums and cinemas. Other regions of the country are studying following the capital, and three state health secretaries have asked the government to extend the power of states to implement measures such as school closures and roadblocks on public roads.
The three countries are on the most recent European Center for Disease Control and Prevention (ECDC) list of European Union nations where the health situation is classified as worrying or very worrying due to Covid-19 infections.
The Netherlands is among the ten with the worst scenario, along with Belgium, Poland, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Hungary and Slovenia. Austria and Germany are in the next category of worrying situation, which also includes Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Romania and Slovakia.
“The epidemiological situation in the European Union is characterized by a rapid and significant increase in cases and a weak but slowly rising death rate,” summarized the Stockholm-based health agency on Friday. “Cases, hospitalizations and mortality should increase in the next two weeks”, he warns.
Only three countries in the bloc are in the category of “moderate concern” (France, Portugal, Cyprus) and four in the category of “weak concern” (Italy, Spain, Sweden and Malta).
Governments and businesses fear the protracted pandemic will hamper a fragile economic recovery.
Europe is responsible for more than half of the world’s moving average cases and for about half of the latest deaths, according to a count by Reuters. It is the worst time on the continent since April of last year, when the virus was at its initial peak in Italy.
In Austria, around 65% of the population received the two doses of the vaccine, a percentage lower than the European average, which is 67%, and far from countries like Spain (79%) and France (75%).
Austrian Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg called the rate “shamefully low” when he announced the containment plan on Friday and said two-thirds of people shouldn’t suffer because others are hesitant about immunization.
Last week, the unvaccinated were banned from places like theaters, ski resorts, restaurants and hotels. Now, they will only be able to leave the house for essential reasons – shopping, exercising or receiving medical care. The measure applies to everyone in this situation from the age of 12 onwards.
This Sunday, queues were formed at vaccination centers, but there was also a protest against the selective lockdown. Skepticism about vaccines is encouraged by the far-right Freedom Party (FPO), the third-largest in parliament.
The government says that there will be police raids in the streets and fines of 1,450 euros (the equivalent of R$ 9,000) for those who disrespect the measure. “From tomorrow onwards, every citizen living in Austria should be aware that they can be monitored by the police,” said Interior Minister Karl Nehammer. The government will assess the results of the restrictions within ten days.
With nearly 10 million inhabitants, Austria registered more than 13,000 new cases of Covid-19 on Saturday, the highest number of infections since the beginning of the pandemic.
Neighboring Germany has classified Austria as a high-risk area, which forces people who come there to quarantine, a blow to Austria’s winter tourism industry.
But the German government also has to deal with record cases in its territory and has scheduled a meeting next week with leaders from the country’s 16 states to discuss tightening restrictions.
The number of people per 100,000 infected last week rose to 277.4, surpassing 500 in some regions of the country.
.
