Coronavirus pandemic: Austria becomes first country in Western Europe to reimpose full lockdown

Vienna: Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg on Friday announced that Austria will reimpose full lockdown as the coronavirus cases soared across the country.

Schallenberg said that the lockdown will start from Monday and will be evaluated after 10 days. Besides, the Covid-19 vaccinations will be mandatory from February 1 next year.

With Schallenberg’s announcement, the Alpine nation became the first country in the Western Europe to reimpose full lockdown.

“Despite months of persuasion, we have not succeeded in convincing enough people to get vaccinated,” Schallenberg told a press conference in the western Tyrol state, where he met regional government heads.

Post the implementation of the full lockdown restrictions, the residents of Austria will no longer be allowed to leave their houses with few exceptions such as shopping for essentials and exercising.

Earlier this week, Austria already began a lockdown for those not vaccinated or recently cured. However, the country decided to go on complete lockdown as the numbers of COVID infections have continued to rise.

The country detected a new record of more than 15,000 new cases on Thursday.

Till date, 66 percent of the population has been fully vaccinated in Austria.