Austria is currently battling a new wave of Covid-19 infection. In such a situation, it has become the first country in Europe to announce a complete lockdown. Apart from this, Austrian Chancellor Alexander Schellenberg has announced compulsory vaccination in his country from February.
The lockdown will start with effect from Monday. It will be evaluated after 10 days. “Despite several months of encouragement, we haven’t been able to persuade enough people to get vaccinated, so compulsory vaccination is the only option left,” Schellenberg said at a news conference in the Austrian state of West Tyrol.
It was here that he also met the regional representatives of the government. He blamed the attack on the health system for those who refused to vaccinate. Earlier this week Austria imposed a lockdown on people who had not yet been vaccinated or who had recently recovered. It has become the first country in the European Union to do so.
In Austria, the cases of infection with Covid-19 are increasing continuously. On Thursday, a new record of over 15,000 new cases was reported in this country of nearly nine million people. Vaccinations have also seen an increase in recent days amid rising Covid cases. About 66 percent of Austria is now fully vaccinated. Yet it is still slightly behind the EU’s average vaccination rate (67 percent).