Covid-19 in Austria: Vienna and Lower Austria Extend Lockdown

The current protective measures to contain Covid-19 in Vienna and Lower Austria will not end on Sunday, April 19, but will be extended until May 2.

Schools will remain in distance learning until April 25.

This was announced by Vienna's Mayor Michael Ludwig and the governor of Lower Austria Johanna Mikl-Leitner following joint consultations with medical experts via video conference.

The reason for the extension of the measures, which have been in force since April 1, is the lack of trend reversal in the intensive care units of hospitals, the numbers in intensive care patients had recently again reached a new high.

In addition, the British variant of the virus would "spread more aggressively and also in other groups of people", increasingly young people were also affected.

"I am making this targeted decision today, rather than on Friday, knowing that it is unpopular, but the current situation is one that is too serious," Ludwig said. "The alternative would be a further increase in the number of intensive care patients at hospitals," he added.

Currently, 245 Covid-19 patients are being treated in Vienna's intensive care units, he said, in addition to another 533 Covid-19 patients in other hospital wards. This total of 778 Covid-19 patients is a new high in Vienna, the Mayor said.

"In order to ensure high-quality hospital care for all Viennese, but also patients from other provinces, it is important to reduce the number of those suffering severely from Covid-19, so that all patient groups can continue to be successfully cared for in Vienna's hospitals until they recover."

Since the number of patients with strokes, heart attacks or life-threatening accidents can hardly be reduced, the goal must be to "bring fewer Covid-19 sufferers to the hospitals," Ludwig said.

Every day, there are two to five more patients in intensive care units in Vienna, "this is a very serious situation, which above all brings the medical and nursing staff to the edge of their endurance," said Vienna's Mayor.

"With these measures, I hope that we will all be able to realize another, a 'normal' form of life again starting in May," Ludwig said.

The following measures will continue to apply:

Exit restriction from 0-24 h:

Leaving and staying outside one's own private living area is only permitted for the known exceptional reasons, such as:

• Averting an immediate danger to life, limb or property;
• Care and assistance to persons in need of support, and exercise of family rights and fulfillment of family obligations;
• Meeting the necessary basic needs of daily life, such as, in particular:
  • contact with the cohabiting partner not living in the common household or contact with individual closest relatives (parents, adult children, siblings) or individual important reference persons with whom physical or non-physical contact is usually maintained several times a week,
  • the provision of basic necessities of daily life,
  • the use of health care services or testing for Covid-19 as part of screening programs,
• Occupational purposes and educational purposes, as necessary,
• Spending time outdoors alone, with persons in the shared household, or with individual relatives or close caregivers for physical and mental recreation.

For meetings, the 1+1 rule applies both indoors and outdoors:

1 household may meet with a maximum of 1 individual (relative or close caregiver).

Trips to the secondary residence are permitted.

Commerce:

• Only those stores offering goods for daily use (such as supermarkets and pharmacies) will remain open;
• All other stores will be closed;
• Open stores may only offer those goods that correspond to their typical range;
• Click & Collect is possible for all stores. The transfer of goods must take place outdoors.

Services:

• Closure of body-related service businesses (e.g. hairdressers, masseurs, beauty salons).
• Still possible are at least two-sided business-related stores (B2B).

Gastronomy:

• Regulations for food service remain unchanged: no on-site consumption, pickup possible from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m., delivery 24/7

Culture and Recreation:

• Closure of all recreational and cultural facilities, this now again includes zoos and botanical gardens, as well as museums, art halls, cultural exhibition houses, libraries, libraries and archives.

Sports and youth:

• Youth sports and youth activities gatherings are prohibited during the lockdown.
• Outdoor sports facilities may still be entered by amateur athletes, but not indoors. However, the 1+1 rule applies here as well: maximum 1 household and 1 individual.

FFP2 obligation:

• There are certain outdoor areas in Vienna, where an FFP2 mask obligation was installed. For details, check the following page: www.wien.gv.at/ffp2-im-freien

Schools:

• Distance Learning applies until April 25.