Austria extends lockdown to Feb. 7, toughens some measures

The Austrian authorities is extending the country’s lockdown till Feb. 7 in a force to push down still-excessive an infection figures as officers apprehension in regards to the likely impact of new coronavirus variants.

Chancellor Sebastian Kurz talked about Sunday that some measures could even be tightened because the more infectious variants that were first detected in Britain and South Africa. He talked about other folk will now be requested to discontinue 2 meters (61/2 toes) aside as a substitute of 1 meter.

Starting on Jan. 25, they’ll also be required to wear paunchy protective masks on public transport and in retailers, in preference to correct cloth face coverings. Folk on low incomes will gain such masks free, Health Minister Rudolf Anschober talked about.

Austria’s present lockdown, its third, started on Dec. 26 and was as soon as to total on Jan. 24. Kurz talked about Austria is appealing to handbook determined of a enviornment equivalent to that in Britain and Ireland, where infections salvage risen sharply and abruptly as new variants care for care for. To this level, Austria has over 150 suspected infections with the British variant, Anschober talked about.

Kurz talked about Austria needs to gain as terminate as it will to, and ideally below, an an infection stage of 50 new conditions per 100,000 residents over 7 days. The figure now stands at 131.

“Our aim is to device this figure … by Feb. 8 and birth the first steps in opposition to opening on Feb. 8,” with colleges, nonessential retailers, museums and providers and products equivalent to hairdressers reopening, Kurz suggested a news convention in Vienna.

Nonetheless Kurz made determined that restaurants and accommodations will wish to wait longer.

“Now we would like to steal at build that, as a minimum in February, this is able to now not be likely to originate tourism and catering,” he talked about, including that a resolution will doubtless be made in mid-February.

Austria, a nation of 8.9 million, has confirmed in the case of 390,000 conditions and viewed 6,964 deaths connected to COVID-19.

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