Starting next Saturday, the closing time in the leisure industry will go from 10:00 p.m. to 12:00 a.m. and two weeks later, access will also be allowed to unvaccinated people, if they have a negative PCR test carried out in the last 48 hours.
Despite the persistent rise in infections in the current wave of omicron, Austria announced this Saturday a progressive relaxation of anticovid measures from February 5.
The measures announced by the federal chancellor, the conservative Karl Nehammer, include extending the opening hours of restaurants, doubling the limit of people allowed in events and facilitating access to trade for unvaccinated people.
According to the Austrian government, the occupation of hospitals is at a level that it considers acceptable, reports the Austrian public broadcaster ORF.
Starting next Saturday, the closing time in the leisure industry will go from 10:00 p.m. to 12:00 a.m. and two weeks later, access will also be allowed to unvaccinated people, if they have a negative PCR test carried out in the last 48 hours.
As of February 12, the unvaccinated with a negative test can also access trade outside the food sector, something that until now was only allowed to the immunized population or recovered from the disease.
However, people whose second injection is older than 180 days must receive a third dose to be considered fully vaccinated, Health Minister Wolfgang Mückstein confirmed.
The Austrian authorities justify this relaxation of the measures with which the rapid expansion of the omicron variant, which has triggered infections, has practically not affected the occupancy rate of hospitals, and they foresee the peak of this wave for the first week of February.
The Social Democratic opposition, however, has been skeptical and considers that this is not the best time to announce a reduction in the measures.