Vaccinations increase in Austria on the first day of confinement
Normality at work and in educational centers on the first day of confinement
Christmas markets closed, deserted shopping streets, bars and restaurants closed, but schools open and queues to get vaccinated. Austria is experiencing its first day of general confinement due to the new wave of coronavirus with its inhabitants confined to their homes, although employees of companies and industries went to work with some normality if they had not signed up for teleworking. The government of the federal chancellor, the conservative Alexander Schallenberger, had issued the order of total closure last week, a few days after initially confining only the unvaccinated in their homes. The emergency situation due to the pandemic ended up making it inevitable. This Monday there were 13,806 new infections, the highest figure so far for this day of the week, and more than 3. 000 people admitted to hospitals in the Alpine Republic, 562 of them in intensive care units. The incidence rate of the virus exceeds 1,000 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in a week.
Furthermore, vaccination levels, with only 66% of the population on the full schedule, remain low. Those vaccinated are just under 5.9 million of the nearly 9 million inhabitants of the country. However, the drastic restrictions have caused a real assault on the vaccination centers, especially of those who want to receive the injection of soda. Official data published today highlight that last week 653,750 vaccines were administered, 107,465 of them to people who came for the first time to get pricked. A total of 1.2 million Austrian citizens already have the soda vaccine.
Meanwhile, 70% of students in Austrian schools and colleges attended their educational centers normally, according to data provided by the federal Ministry of Education, although in the states of Salzburg and Upper Austria, with an incidence rate close to the 1,500 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in a week, the influx was less, 50% in the first and 60% in the second. The nurseries are also open. Austria started vaccinating children aged 5 to 11 years last week without waiting for the European Medicines Agency (EMA) to authorize this step. Only in Vienna 9,200 children were vaccinated last week and this Monday another 50,400 appointments were scheduled.
The total closure dictated from this Monday in all Austria has a validity of 20 days and affects the entire population, whether it is vaccinated or not. Less supermarkets, drugstores, pharmacies and gas stations, all shops have closed their doors, as well as bars and restaurants, venues and cultural and sports leisure centers. Tourist overnight stays are also prohibited. You can only leave home to make basic purchases, go to work, school, the doctor or get vaccinated. Companies have been called to allow teleworking as much as possible. Team sports are not authorized, but exercise outdoors individually or with members of the household. It is also authorized to go out for a walk to take the air, but avoiding direct contact with other people.
Whoever leaves their home without just cause or refuses to be controlled can be punished with fines of up to 1,450 euros. Bars and restaurants that have clandestine activities with penalties of up to 30,000 euros and customers of up to 1,450 euros if they are discovered inside. The company that does not control whether its employees are vaccinated, healed or present a PCR test will pay a fine of 3,600 euros for each case and the employee who does not present the required documentation, 500 euros. And whoever goes to work knowing that they are infected with coronavirus can be punished with sentences of up to three years in prison.
