Austria's focus shifts to full lockdown as COVID-19 cases keep rising
By Francois Murphy
VIENNA, Nov 18 (Reuters) - Pressure on Austria's government to impose a full COVID-19 lockdown grew on Thursday as its worst-hit provinces said they would adopt the measure for themselves since infections are still rising despite the current lockdown for the unvaccinated https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/austria-orders-non-vaccinated-people-into-covid-19-lockdown-2021-11-14.
Roughly 66% of Austria's population https://info.gesundheitsministerium.at is fully vaccinated, one of the lowest rates in western Europe. Its infections are among the highest on the continent, with a seven-day incidence of 971.5 per 100,000 people.
As winter approaches, cases have surged across Europe, prompting governments to consider reimposing unpopular lockdowns. The Netherlands has imposed a partial lockdown that applies to all, but Austria has sought not to impose extra restrictions https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/austrian-covid-cases-hit-record-third-day-lockdown-unvaccinated-2021-11-17 on the fully vaccinated.
"We have very, very little room for manoeuvre," the conservative governor of Upper Austria, Thomas Stelzer, told the province's parliament, referring to its strained intensive-care units.
Upper Austria, a stronghold of the far-right and vaccine-criticising Freedom Party, has the country's highest infection rate and its lowest vaccination rate. It and neighbouring Salzburg are the hardest-hit of Austria's nine provinces. Both border Germany.
"If no national lockdown is ordered tomorrow, there will definitely have to be a lockdown of several weeks in Upper Austria together with our neighbouring province Salzburg as of next week," Stelzer said.
The conservative-led provincial government of Salzburg, which this week said it was preparing for a possible triage situation in which the number of people needing intensive-care beds exceeds supply, confirmed in a statement that it is planning a joint lockdown with Upper Austria.
Austria's governors are holding a meeting on Friday with conservative Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg and Health Minister Wolfgang Mueckstein.
Daily infections on Thursday reached a new record of 15,145. The biggest wave before this peaked at 9,586 a year ago, when Austria went into full lockdown. (Reporting by Francois Murphy; Editing by Giles Elgood)
