Austria in partial lockdown as of tuesday
Austria severely restricts public life because of an imminent overload of intensive care in the corona crisis.
Gastronomy and almost the entire range of cultural and leisure activities will be closed, and throughout the country people will only be allowed to leave their homes between 8 p.M. And 6 a.M. For certain purposes – but also for recreation outdoors. "From tuesday 3. November 0 o’clock, by the end of november there will be a second lockdown in austria," said chancellor sebastian kurz (ovp) on saturday in vienna.
Unlike the first so-called lockdown in spring, which provided for stricter curfews around the clock, this time retailers and most schools will remain open – "for the time being," as kurz stressed. Schoolchildren in high school and above and students learning at home. Professional sports events are the only ones allowed to take place, but only without spectators. Contact sports banned during leisure time. Visits to hospitals and nursing homes will be limited.
On sunday evening, the parliament’s main committee also approved the mabreakdowns. The order is valid until 30. November, the exit restriction must be re-approved by parliament every ten days. The opposition demanded that the conservative-green government provide detailed explanations of the individual measures.
"Our goal is to gradually reopen in december and return to a halay normal life," emphasized kurz. "It is necessary to take this step to prevent overloading of intensive care units."Just three weeks ago, the government in vienna had stressed that a second lockdown was not conceivable. "I can’t imagine that at all," health minister rudolf anschober (grune) had said on 11. October told the ORF radio station. "Thank god, we are still miles away from this."
Since then, however, the number of infections has increased almost fivefold. On friday, a record 5627 new infections were reported in the country of almost nine million inhabitants in one day; over the weekend, the number was slightly lower. In the past seven days, there has been an average of 321.3 new infections per 100.000 inhabitants, in the federal states of vorarlberg and tyrol even significantly more than 400 in each case.
"Most contagions take place among people who know each other, who like each other," emphasized kurz. He therefore called the nighttime curfew "a de facto ban on visiting". Specifically, leaving one’s "own private living space" between 8 p.M. And 6 a.M. For outdoor recreation, basic needs, care or familiar support, work and driving is allowed. Restaurants may still deliver during the period, but may no longer offer food for pickup.
In addition, the ordinance contains contact restrictions, according to which only people from two households are allowed to meet each other. This does not apply to one’s own house or apartment, as private living space in austria is strictly protected by the constitution. "There will be no such thing as the police starting to look into private homes," interior minister karl nehammer (ovp) stressed.
On the other hand, nehammer said, the police should carry out more stringent checks on the streets during the night-time restrictions, especially at the beginning. Legal experts, however, see possible problems with this, as they did with the corona provisions in the spring, which were subsequently overturned by the constitutional court in several points, for example because of inaccuracies in the ordinance.
Compensation for companies affected by the schliebung to be paid quickly. They receive up to 80 percent of their sales from the comparable period, one month of the previous year, with a maximum of 800.000 euro. The government estimates the total cost at around 1 billion euros.
According to the austrian government, the first visible effects of the measures on the incidence of infection are not expected for seven to 14 days. The real breakthrough will not come until a vaccine is available, said briefly. "I remain optimistic that we will be able to return to normality by the end of the summer at the latest."
