Minister of Health Rudolf Anchober announced at a press conference that restrictions on leaving home in these Länder will be introduced for the period from 1 to 6 April, as “Austria has the strongest [Covid-19] prevalence of the British mutation “.
Residents will only be allowed to leave their homes for specific exceptions, such as buying food or exercising on a daily basis. Museums and non-essential goods stores will be closed.
The requirement to wear face masks, which is already in place in public transport, shops and official buildings, in the east of the country will apply to all interiors with more than one person.
Workplace testing will be stepped up and cross-border passengers will be subject to new checks.
Anchober said there was no firm decision on Easter services.
In the week after Easter, students will study remotely, but then PCR tests will be needed to resume full-time study.
From April 7, a negative test result will also be required to visit non-essential goods stores.
The Austrian government had previously considered allowing restaurant terraces to open in March, but so far only the state of Vorarlberg has had a low enough number of new Covid-19 cases to allow it.
The new measures came at a time when Viennese hospitals are under heavy pressure due to the increase in the number of Covid-19 patients and health officials have said that the capacity for intensive care will be increased by postponing operations.
The government had hoped that a mass testing strategy, especially in schools, would help control infection. However, the number of new cases of Covid-19 has continued to rise, regularly exceeding 3,000 cases per day in the last two weeks.
On Wednesday, more than half of the new infections were registered in the east of the country, where the new restrictions will apply in the first days of April.
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