Politics : Austria announces national lockdown and compulsory vaccination

The Austrian government on Friday announced that the country will go into its fourth nationwide lockdown and will make Covid-19 vaccines compulsory.

The nationwide general lockdown will start on Monday, for at least ten days but for “a maximum” of 20, which would mean it ends on December 13th if no further changes are made. However, the lockdown for unvaccinated people is set to continue after the end of the general lockdown if judged necessary.

But the Chancellor and Health Minister both said a lockdown alone was not enough to end the “vicious circle” of increasing spread of the virus and repeated lockdowns. They announced that the government would begin preparing for a general vaccination requirement to come into effect in February 2022 at the latest.

Heath Minister Wolfgang Mückstein said: “The lockdown will break the fourth wave; the way out of the fifth wave is vaccination, vaccination, vaccination.”