Austria reimposes full Covid lockdown from Nov 22

Austria government on Friday announced a full national COVID-19 lockdown starting from Monday. With this announcement, Austria has become the first country in Western Europe to reimpose a full Coronavirus lockdown to tackle a new wave of infections.

Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg said, it would last a maximum of 20 days and there would be a legal requirement to get vaccinated from February 2022.

The announcement came as roughly two-thirds of Austria’s population is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, one of the lowest rates in western



Europe.

The country’s infection rate is among the highest on the continent, with a seven-day incidence of 991 per 100,000 people.

A record 15,809 cases were reported in the past 24 hours, in a population of under nine million.

Austria introduced a lockdown for all those who were unvaccinated on Monday but since then, infections have continued to set new records.

The lockdown means people are no longer allowed to leave their houses with few exceptions such as shopping for essentials and exercising.