The Austrian government imposed new confinement for the entire population from Monday (22), and announced that the vaccine against Covid will be mandatory from February — it is the first European country to adopt compulsory immunization.
The measures were taken because, in addition to record numbers of new Sars-Cov-2 infections, hospitals are also beginning to be overburdened.
With about two-thirds of the population vaccinated, Austria had already mandated earlier this week that the unimmunized stay at home.
“We have not been able to get enough new people vaccinated. The blockade has raised daily immunizations a little, but not enough,” Prime Minister Alexander Schallenberg said in an interview.
According to him, although it would be preferable to have people’s responsibility, making the Covid vaccine mandatory proved to be inevitable to contain the pandemic: “We have to face the reality”.
On Thursday (18), the number of new cases reached 15,000, a 36% increase over the 11,000 at the beginning of this week.
With the general extension of the confinement, which could last from 10 to 20 days, Austria becomes the third country in the European Union to re-impose tough restrictions on circulation to contain Covid’s fourth wave: Latvia was the first, in late October , followed by the Netherlands, last week.
From Monday onwards, only establishments considered essential, such as supermarkets and pharmacies, will be able to function. Other shops, restaurants, hotels, cinemas, bars and any other leisure venue will be closed.
The Austrian measure reflects a widespread concern in Europe with the resurgence of contagion by Sars-Cov-2, in high for more than a month, and aggravated in the last two weeks by an increase also in the number of deaths — albeit at a lower level than last year, when the vaccine was not yet available.
Germany, amidst the explosion of new cases, decided on Thursday to impose restrictions on people who did not get vaccinated and offer a third dose of the immunizing agent against the disease for everyone over 18 years old.
National and regional leaders from Germany met on Thursday and agreed to restrict, in areas where there are hospitals, access to public, cultural and sporting events, as well as restaurants, to those who are already vaccinated or who can prove that they have recovered from a infection recently.
Belgium, Ireland, Sweden, Denmark, Greece, Slovakia and the Czech Republic have also tightened restrictions to fight Covid’s fourth wave.
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