CategoryAustria

Austria to lift most COVID-19 restrictions by March 5

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Austria will lift most of its remaining COVID-19 restrictions by March 5, including scrapping an earlier closing time of midnight for bars and restaurants and allowing nightclubs to reopen, Chancellor Karl Nehammer said on Wednesday.

The government said the steps were being taken cautiously with daily new infections hovering below their record peak and a manageable situation in hospitals due to the smaller incidence of severe cases in the latest wave of the coronavirus, dominated by the highly contagious Omicron variant.

The easing of curbs as Omicron has proven to be milder than earlier variants will deepen doubt about whether the government will implement a recently enacted law making vaccination against COVID-19 compulsory – the first such measure in the European Union.

“On March 5 the bulk of the restrictions that so burden people will be lifted,” Nehammer told a news conference.

https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/austria-lift-most-covid-19-restrictions-by-march-5-2022-02-16

Austria recorded 12 new Coronavirus infections yesterday, their population is around 9,000,000

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Austria says reopening shops has not accelerated coronavirus infections

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Austria’s first loosening of its coronavirus lockdown three weeks ago, in which thousands of shops reopened, has not led to a new spike in infections, though further vigilance is necessary, its health minister said on Tuesday.

The Alpine republic acted early to tackle the viral pandemic, closing bars, restaurants, schools, theatres, non-essential shops and other gathering places seven weeks ago. That helped cut the daily increase in infections to less than 1% and keep deaths relatively low – with just 606 reported so far.

Buoyed by those numbers, on April 14 Austria became one of the first countries in Europe to loosen its lockdown, reopening DIY and garden centres as well as shops of up to 400 square metres – twice the playing area of a singles tennis court.

“We can now examine and assess the effects of April 14 and the following days very, very well and they show that we managed this first opening step excellently,” Health Minister Rudolf Anschober told a news conference.

“We have no indication of a noticeable increase in individual areas. The situation is very, very constant, very, very stable and that is a really very, very positive, good situation,” he said.

The daily increase in infections, he added, is 0.2%.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-austria/austria-says-reopening-shops-has-not-accelerated-coronavirus-infections-idUSKBN22H1HPHELP US SPREAD GOOD NEWS!

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Hugely encouraging news – the Austrian Chancellor has just announced they could loosen the lockdown there as soon as April 14th.

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