Ahead of the Christmas holidays, Austria shut its shops, restaurants and festive markets Monday, returning to lockdown in the most dramatic COVID-19 restriction seen in Western Europe for months.
The decision has prompted a fierce backlash, with tens of thousands taking to the streets, some blaming the government for not doing more to avert the latest coronavirus wave crashing into Europe.
As they wake up Monday morning, Austria’s 8.9 million people will not be allowed to leave home except to go to work, shop for essentials, and exercise.
The Alpine nation is also imposing a sweeping vaccine mandate from February 1 – joining the Vatican as the only places in Europe with such a requirement.
Battling a resurgent pandemic almost two years since COVID-19 first emerged, several countries in the continent have reintroduced curbs, often choosing to ban unvaccinated people from venues like restaurants and bars.
But not since jabs became widely available has a European Union country had to re-enter a nationwide lockdown.
Austria’s decision punctures earlier promises that tough virus restrictions would be a thing of the past.
Over the summer, then chancellor Sebastian Kurz had declared the pandemic “over.”
But plateauing inoculation rates, record case numbers, and a spiralling death toll have forced the government to walk back such bold claims.
After taking office in October, Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg criticised the “shamefully low” vaccine rate – 66 percent compared to France’s 75 percent – and banned the un-jabbed from public spaces.
When that proved ineffective at squelching the latest round of infections, he announced a nationwide lockdown of 20 days, with an evaluation after 10 days. AFP
Schools will remain open, although parents have been asked to keep their children at home if possible. Working remotely is also recommended.
Political analyst Thomas Hofer blamed Schallenberg for maintaining “the fiction” of a successfully contained pandemic for too long.
“The government didn’t take the warnings of a next wave seriously,” he told AFP.