Austria’s government on Monday announced relaxing of the strict health protocol caused by the epidemic. While Sebastian Kurz’s Cabinet extended the coronavirus lockdown, a handful of measures were relaxed, The Local Austria reported.
In Austria, all of the strict epidemiological measures will be relaxed in a uniform fashion. At the same time, the lockdown will be extended beyond its current end date of February 8th.
The Austrian government ruled Monday that some measures look set to be relaxed across the entire country. COVID-19 numbers have gradually and steadily fallen in recent weeks in Austria, however, the EU nation pledged to toughen border controls to keep out the Brazilian variant of the pathogen since Feb 8th.
Starting from February 8th, stay-at-home order to apply between 8pm and 6am only, while two households are allowed to meet during the day.
The hard lockdown on ‘non-essential’ retailers is expected to be relaxed, with smaller shops selling clothes and gifts again allowed to reopen. The face masks will be required in all shops across Austria, anyway. Museums, zoos and libraries can again open.
Commenting on the relaxing, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz called upon each resident of Austria to take responsibility to ensure covid19 cases continue to fall in the coming weeks.
“Once again, the responsibility of each individual in the country will play an important role,” the 34-year-old Kurz said.
