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Holland back in lockdown, Austria on the brink – what’s Germany doing?

Holland is in lockdown again, Austria is on the brink! What does Germany’s path look like – is a lockdown inevitable?

Parts of Europe in the stranglehold of the pandemic!

In view of the rapidly rising infection figures, the Netherlands is the first Western European country to have a partial lockdown again from Saturday evening: restaurants, shops and sports activities will be affected, and major events will have to be cancelled. In Austria, a nationwide lockdown for the unvaccinated is expected to take effect soon. The country, like the Czech Republic and Hungary, will again be classified as a high-risk area by Berlin as of Sunday.

For the next three weeks, bars, restaurants and supermarkets in the Netherlands will have to close at 8pm, with shops for non-emergency needs closing as early as 6pm. Citizens are only allowed to meet with a maximum of four other people in their homes, and employees should work from their home offices if possible.

Hard restrictions for the Dutch

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Leisure activities are also again subject to strict restrictions in the Netherlands: Major events will have to be cancelled, football matches will again take place without an audience. However, schools are to remain open, and there are also to be no curfew restrictions.

Prime Minister Mark Rutte spoke on Friday when announcing the measures of a “hard blow for a few weeks”. But they were necessary, he said, because “the virus is everywhere, all over the country, in all sectors and all age groups.” Rutte’s announcements were accompanied by sometimes violent protests by around 200 people in The Hague. They were broken up by police using water cannons.

Across Europe, Corona infection cases have been rising sharply again for several weeks. Many hospitals are overloaded because of the many Corona patients, the intensive care units are full. Many of the seriously ill and fatal victims are unvaccinated, according to authorities.

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) on Friday classified the Corona situation in 10 European Union countries as “very worrying”. They included Poland, Belgium, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic. The situation is “worrying” in 13 other countries, including Germany and Austria, according to the ECDC. According to the report, the countries with lower vaccination rates are the most affected.

Germany’s vaccination rate is below 70%!

In Germany, 67.5 percent of the population is fully vaccinated, just below the EU average, according to data released Saturday by the Robert Koch Institute. Austria is just below that, with a vaccination rate of 65 percent. On Saturday, the country had a seven-day incidence of more than 800 cases per 100,000 population, compared with 277.4 in Germany.

To get more people to vaccinate, Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg (ÖVP) wants to put all non-immunised people on lockdown. The measure still needs to be rubber-stamped by parliament and state government leaders before it can be rolled out nationwide. They could give their green light as early as Sunday.

In the particularly affected states of Upper Austria and Salzburg, the new form of lockdown will already apply from Monday: unvaccinated people will then only be allowed to leave their homes to go shopping for food or other essentials, to do sport or if they need medical help. Health Minister Wolfgang Mückstein (Greens) additionally announced a vaccination requirement for employees in the health and care sector.

Vienna region starts vaccinating 5-11 year olds!

The capital Vienna will also become the first region in the EU to start vaccinating children between the ages of five and 11 from Monday. Vienna’s residents will also be able to receive a booster shot as early as four months instead of six months after their second vaccination.

For many travellers, however, the measures come too late. Anyone entering Germany from Austria, the Czech Republic or Hungary who has not been fully vaccinated or recovered will have to be isolated again for ten days from Sunday. The quarantine can be ended after five days at the earliest with a negative Corona test.

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