Covid-19 in Austria: Slight Easing of Regulations
The Austrian government has announced some new regulations with regard to the Covid-19 situation in Austria. The province of Vorarlberg will be facing relaxations of the current regulations as early as March 15, while the rest of the country will need to wait until the end of March and April for the opening of gastronomy and the cultural sector.
Austria's Chancellor Kurz and Health Minister Anschober together with representatives of three Austrian provinces and the Vice Rector of MedUni Vienna announce the plan for the near future with regard to Covid-19. / Picture: © Bundeskanzleramt (BKA) / Andy Wenzel
In a press conference on March 1, 2021, with Austria's Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, Health Minister Rudolf Anschober, Governor of Vorarlberg Markus Wallner, Vienna Mayor Michael Ludwig, Governor of Styria Hermann Schützenhöfer, and Oswald Wagner, Vice Rector of MedUni Vienna and Head of the Clinical Institute for Laboratory Medicine, a slight easing of the current Covid-19 measures were announced.
In the pilot region of Vorarlberg, the first opening steps in the areas of gastronomy, sports and culture are to take place as early as March 15.
Details are still being negotiated between the federal and state governments over the next few days.
Due to relatively low Covid-19 infection numbers in the most eastern province of Austria, the government has decided to try some relaxations of the measures.
For Austria in general, some other regulations were announced:
- FFP2 mask obligation in the workplace is extended and will in future also apply where mouth-nose protection was previously sufficient;
- Mandatory prevention concepts for large companies;
- Safety concepts in regions with high incidence, such as, in particular, an exit test obligation for districts with incidence above 400;
- Gastronomy outdoor possible from March 27, prerequisites: negative entry test and guest registration;
- Further opening steps for gastronomy and culture are to follow from April onwards;
- Youth and school sports possible from March 15 after negative tests.
In general, if the infection situation allows it, the Austrian government plans to further loosen restrictions after Easter.