Quarantine on entry: Austria is practically closing its borders

Wednesday, December 02, 2020

Quarantine obligation upon entry
Austria is practically closing its borders

In the fight against the corona pandemic, Austria is virtually bringing tourism in the country to a standstill. All immigrants are required to be isolated until January. In addition, Chancellor Kurz calls on the population to take part in the upcoming mass tests.
Austria imposes a ten-day quarantine obligation for all travelers from Corona risk areas from December 7th to January 10th. The aim is to curb tourism to a large extent, announced the government in Vienna. Austria is relying on a consistent border regime so that the virus is not carried into the country by returnees or tourists, said Chancellor Sebastian Kurz.

The threshold is more than 100 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants in the past 14 days. This applies in practice to all neighboring countries and especially to the Western Balkans, it said. All restaurants and hotels must remain closed until January 7th. There will be economic compensation, said Kurz.

The lifts in the ski areas are allowed to open from December 24th – and can therefore mainly be used by locals. At the same time, after the end of the current lockdown on December 6th, the shops and museums are allowed to reopen. The compulsory schools will also be reopened. Exit restrictions then still exist between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m.

“The falling numbers are a success, but no reason to give the all-clear,” said Kurz. “If we opened everything at the same time, I can give you the guarantee that the new infections will go up again and that we have a new lockdown in January.” Overloading the health system has been prevented so far, said Kurz. He called on citizens to participate in the upcoming mass tests. In Vienna, Tyrol and Vorarlberg, people can be tested from Friday. This is followed by other federal states. The experts hope that several million people will take part in order to break the chains of infection.

In Austria, the number of new infections has decreased significantly due to the lockdown. However, the downward trend is less strong than hoped. In the morning, 3972 new infections were recorded within one day. In relation to the number of inhabitants, this value is several times higher than in Germany.