Current Events : Austria orders all unvaccinated people 12 and over to stay home

Austria will implement lockdown measures for all those age 12 and older who are not fully vaccinated against Covid-19 from Monday, Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg announced.

Around 65% of Austria's population is fully vaccinated against Covid-19, one of the lower rates in the European Union where cases are surging. Under the measures announced on Sunday, the unvaccinated are ordered to stay home except for a few limited reasons; the rules will be policed by officers carrying out spot checks on those who are out.

The lockdown plan which was agreed in September called for unvaccinated Austrians to face a stay-at-home order once 30% of intensive-care beds are occupied by Covid-19 patients. Unvaccinated people are already excluded from entertainment venues, restaurants, hairdressers and other parts of public life in Austria.

Schallenberg told reporters on Friday that the government should give the "green light" for the move this weekend. "The aim is clear: we want on Sunday to give the green light for a nationwide lockdown for the unvaccinated," Schallenberg said at a news conference in Innsbruck. He had earlier called the country's vaccination rate "shamefully low."

His warning came as a wave of Covid-19 infections sweeps central Europe. A three-week partial lockdown was announced in the Netherlands on Friday evening, Reuters reported, with health officials recording a rapid rise in cases there.

"Tonight we are bringing a very unpleasant message with very unpleasant and far-reaching measures," Dutch caretaker Prime Minister Mark Rutte said in a televised address, ordering restaurants, supermarkets and non-essential retailers to close early and reimposing social distancing measures. "The virus is everywhere and needs to be combated everywhere."