Austria was the first country to announce that it would impose a closure on those who were not vaccinated. Last Friday, Austrian Chancellor Alexander Schlenberg announced that he had decided to impose a full closure on the country from this coming Monday.
The Chancellor’s move is due to the steep rise in morbidity and also due to the threat sent from the heads of two districts in Austria, bordering Germany – where morbidity has soared and the heads of counties have threatened that if no general closure is imposed, they will impose closure alone.
The current closure is planned for ten days, with an option to extend for another ten days – all subject to the state of morbidity in the country and the state of the vaccinated.
The Chancellor also announced at his press conference that he intends to apply a vaccination requirement in the country from the first of February – this is a precedent-setting step that is not yet practiced in any Western country. The Chancellor explained the extreme move by saying that “we do not want another fifth wave here.”
Austrian Chancellor Alexander Schlenberg announced today (Friday) that a full closure will be imposed in the country starting this coming Monday, in order to combat the wave of morbidity in the Corona that is spreading in all parts of Austria. The closure will last for at least 10 days, and may be extended to 20 days if necessary.
“We do not take the step of quarantine and vaccination easily, but unfortunately it is necessary. We have not been able to convince enough people to get vaccinated. It hurts, but these steps must occur.”
As you may recall, a € 500 fine was imposed on anyone who was not vaccinated and violated the special ban on unvaccinated people in Austria. The Austrian Freedom Party called the new chancellor’s move a “corona apartheid regime system”.
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Enforcement in the country is admittedly not strong, and many reports have not been distributed. At the same time, following the move to impose a ban on the unvaccinated, in Austria the queues for vaccination against the virus are getting longer.
In other countries, including Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, additional restrictions are being considered – and even the possibility of reaching the extreme step of closure only on those who have not been vaccinated.
However, in the three countries there is still no real talk of closure, but of tightening the conditions of the corona restrictions. For example, in the Netherlands, they decided to close entertainment from 6 pm.
In the UK, Prime Minister Boris Johnson is urging citizens to get vaccinated with a third dose of the booster vaccine to fight the virus.