In two Austrian provinces, Salzburg and Upper Austria, a shutdown will be implemented for the unvaccinated portion of the population from Monday, Health Minister Wolfgang Mückstein announced Friday afternoon. A possible extension of the measure across the country will be decided on Sunday afternoon in consultation with the leaders of the federal states.

Not long ago, Federal Chancellor Alexander Schalenberg announced that he would be ready to implement a nationwide shutdown for unvaccinated people – informed of ORFAT

A partial closure for non-vaccination in the two provinces will be ordered by the Ministry of Health, but further epidemiological measures will be taken at the provincial level. In Upper Austria, all events will be canceled from 6 December except sporting and cultural events. Dinners will be closed and Christmas fairs will be held in the province, but with the obligation to wear masks so that food and drink are banned, which is expected to significantly reduce the appeal of the events.

Also, Mukstein was quite reluctant to comment on how he would be able to monitor compliance in practice.

nationwide solution

Schalenberg says the government is looking for a nationwide solution, but they want to avoid a general shutdown that would affect the vaccinated, recovered and unvaccinated at all costs. According to him, those who have been protected from the disease by vaccination should be protected, and with the general lockdown there is no point in taking solidarity with those unaffected.

partial lockdown – As before, this means that those who are subject to restrictions on access to basic food items and for health reasons are subject to restrictions. Inspection will be random.

The emphasis is not on control but on the common sense of the people. As he said, “The situation is serious, it is about our health, our most important well being, which should not be taken lightly by anyone.” Schalenberg regrets that a closure spiral is re-emerging, but says it can only be compounded with vaccines, and the common goal is to relieve the health care system.

Also, according to constitutional lawyers reporting to ORF, it is questionable whether there can actually be a constitutional way of taking measures that would impose a curfew on people who are not vaccinated. Especially since there are so many infections among vaccinated people, it is not possible to talk specifically about the epidemic of unvaccinated people.

Thrice vaccination: 612 thousand

In Austria, with a population of 8.9 million, about 111,000 cases of active coronavirus are currently on record, and 810,000 people have already contracted the infection. 6.05 million people have received the first, 5.38 million people the second, and 612,000 people have already received the third vaccine against COVID-19. A total of 11,641 people have died, diagnosed with Covid-19, since the pandemic began in the spring of 2020 (a third of the Hungarian figure). There are currently 2,294 coronavirus patients in the hospital, and about 430 of them require intensive care.

Austrian authorities do not report the number of intensive care patients receiving artificial respiration on a daily basis, so this is not directly comparable with Hungarian data. However, health professionals previously said According to The number of COVID-19 patients requiring intensive care is about 20 to 50 percent higher than those requiring ventilation. The latter is currently 509 in Hungary, so it can be concluded that the number of coronavirus infections currently requiring intensive care in Hungary is at least one and a half times higher than in Austria.

In Austria, the requirement of masks in public places has been reintroduced from mid-September, with the use of FFP-2 masks required in early October. For example, in Vienna, FFP-2 masks have been made mandatory on public transport since the outbreak.