The Austria plans to lift the lockdown on the part of its population, which has not been vaccinated against Covid-19, from February as the number of patients in intensive care units has dropped despite fast spread of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus in the Central European country.
British-Canadian news agency Reuters reports that on Wednesday, January 26, Austrian Health Minister Wolfgang Mückstein stated that daily coronavirus infections in the country hit a new record above 30,000 and were expected to peak in the next two weeks at around 35,000 to 40,000.
Read also: WHO: Possible for pandemic in Europe to end with Omicron
«We came to the conclusion that the lockdown for unvaccinated people in Austria is only justifiable in the event of the threat of an imminent over-burdening of intensive-care capacity,» the Austrian Health Minister explained in a news conference. Mückstein added that experts no longer saw the strict measures as necessary.
Although the restrictions on the movement of unvaccinated Austrians will be lifted, the they will still be prohibited from taking part in a range of leisure activities. These include dining in restaurants or shopping for non-essential, Reuters reports.
Austria to lift movement restrictions on unvaccinated from February
