(Vienna) The re-containment introduced three weeks ago in Austria to fight the COVID-19 pandemic will end on Monday as planned, except for unvaccinated people, the government announced on Tuesday, against the backdrop of population fatigue.
“We have a positive trend” for the decrease in contamination and we have “agreed to end the confinement”, declared the new conservative chancellor Karl Nehammer.
“The coronavirus is taking its toll on people. And for many, the limit of what is reasonable is exceeded “, he had estimated during his inauguration the day before, promising to overcome the” divisions “which undermine Austrian society.
Those who have not received an injection or who cannot present antibody certificates testifying to a recent infection with the coronavirus remain deprived of an exit.
The roadmap for this gradual reopening must be detailed Wednesday and “we will be as careful as possible”, assured the leader, while the hospital sector remains under tension.
A little more than 4,200 cases of contamination were identified in 24 hours according to figures published Tuesday, against 16,000 cases at the height of the wave in mid-November.
But more than 3,000 people are still hospitalized, including 670 in intensive care, the highest figure ever recorded this year.
Faced with a risk of saturation of hospitals and a vaccination rate which then amounted to only 66%, this tourist country of Central Europe had decided to restrict freedoms again from November 22.
Since then, Austrians, even vaccinated, in theory no longer have the right to leave their homes except to do their food shopping, sports or for medical care.
This country, which has suffered several lockdowns since the emergence of the pandemic in March 2020, was the first to take such measures in Europe.
If schools remain open, non-essential stores, restaurants, concert halls and cinemas are closed, costing the national economy 800 million euros per week according to the statistics institute Wifo.
Long below the European average, the vaccination rate has increased in recent weeks and now reaches 71.2%, with a view to a vaccination obligation which is due to come into force in February 2022.
“We must take note of the fact that the virus will be part of our life and that only sufficient vaccination coverage will allow us to avoid further confinements”, hammered the Chancellor, while the measure still divides.
Tens of thousands of people have been demonstrating every Saturday since the bill was announced.