Vaccine ‘turbo’ has started, says Chancellor

Austria’s Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said the “vaccination turbo” had started and Austria is on track to vaccinate everyone willing by the end of June on Tuesday, the Wiener Zeitung newspaper reports.

He says by the end of April, 33 percent of those over 16 years of age could be vaccinated, by the end of May 50 percent and by the end of June 75 percent.

Vaccination by company doctors will start in mid May, it reports, and it is possible vaccination could be opened up to all age groups at the same time. 

Vienna’s hard lockdown to end

As The Local reported yesterday, the hard lockdown will end in Vienna on May 3rd.

Shops and hairdressers will be allowed to reopen as well as museums and zoos. In addition, there will no longer be a mask requirement in public places. 

READ MORE: The measures have worked, Vienna to relax lockdown rules on May 3rd

Travel to become easier 

Travel to other countries should also be made much easier once Austria opens on 19th May, Der Standard newspaper reports. 

The quarantine requirement is to be dropped not only for tourists from most EU countries, but also for Austrians returning from these countries.

There will be exceptions for high incidence areas, which will be identified by the Ministry of Health based on corona traffic light of the EU health agency ECDC.

Seven-day incidence at 170

The seven-day incidence, or the number of new infections with the coronavirus in the past seven days per 100,000 inhabitants, is 170.2, according to the AGES database.

The highest incidence is currently Vorarlberg (237.4), followed by Salzburg (188.4) and Tyrol (188.0). The value is lowest in Burgenland (100.9) and Lower Austria (121.8). Vienna, which ends its hard lockdown on May 3rd, is at 175.2.

Household energy prices have risen

The prices for household energy in Austria have risen, according to the Wiener Zeitung newspaper. The energy price index (EPI) calculated by the Austrian Energy Agency climbed by 5 percent within a year – the general rate of price increases, however, was 2 percent.

Compared to the previous month of February, energy prices rose by 2.5 percent, while the CPI rose by 1.1 percent. Fuel went up the most.