- Due to the increase in the number of infections, the lockdown for the entire population in the Basque Country will be implemented on Monday. Vaccination will be mandatory from February.
The lockdown in Austria will last for at least ten days and "if necessary" for twenty, as the government has announced a lockdown this Friday from Monday. In addition, it will be the first state in the European Union to force coronavirus vaccination. The Austrian Government has warned that citizens who are not vaccinated after February "may be subject to administrative sanctions". "Despite the persuasion campaigns that we have been conducting for months in the media, we have not been able to convince people to get it," said Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg, who added that "it has been a very difficult decision." Other European states are also implementing tougher measures to deal with the increase in cases and to try to increase vaccination.
Today, Austria is one of the European countries with the highest number of COVID-19 infections, with an average of 1,000 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. 65% of the population is vaccinated, below the EU average. In recent weeks the Government has taken a number of measures to try to reverse the situation, some of them controversial, such as the ban on access to restaurants, leisure facilities and aesthetic centres for people without vaccination or illness, which were confined since Monday.
As of Monday, all citizens will have to put themselves in lockdown. They will be able to take you out of the house to make the necessary purchases, to the doctor, to help third parties, and to exercise outdoors. In addition, all non-essential shops, restaurants, gyms and leisure venues will be cut off. The Haurreskolak and the Schools will remain open "for those who need it".
The extreme right to the street
Chancellor Schallenberg criticized the political representatives who have stood up against the coronavirus vaccine. Among them, the far-right party FPO, which has 20% of the votes, has shown itself against the vaccine and, according to the Chancellor, is "an attack on the health system". The far-right party has called for a demonstration on Saturday in Bilbao to denounce the new government measures.