Austria will be completely locked again on Monday to reverse the sharp increase in the number of corona infections.
Only supermarkets, drugstores, and pharmacies can remain open, catering, and most schools will remain closed for at least the next ten days. People are only allowed to leave home for shopping, exercise, work, or a doctor’s visit.
The lockdown is the prelude to the general vaccination obligation, a first in the European Union, which takes effect on 1 February.
In Austria, just over 65 percent of the population is vaccinated. For a week, a lockdown has been in effect in the Alpine country for people over the age of 12 who have not been fully vaccinated, on pain of a fine of 1450 euros.
It is the fourth time that the country with almost 9 million inhabitants has gone into total lockdown. The states of Salzburg and Upper Austria have the highest infection rates in the country, and hospitals are full of corona patients.