Austrian MPs Approve Mandatory Virus Tests for Events
Image Credits: Anadolu Agency
Vienna, Jan 14 (AFP/APP): Austrian MPs on Thursday approved powers for the government to make a negative coronavirus test result mandatory for entry to cultural and sporting events as well as hospitals and hotel stays.
Such a requirement would be ordered by health minister Rudolf Anschober after the lifting of Austria’s current coronavirus lockdown, which is due to end on January 24. However, several suspected clusters of the new, more transmissible B117 variant of the coronavirus have been discovered in Austria and the current lockdown has not reduced infection figures as much as the government had hoped, leading to speculation the lockdown will be extended. Anschober warned MPs on Thursday that “this mutation has an enormous potential”.
The law also leaves open the possibility that a negative test result could be required for entry into restaurants and cafes. The prospect of a negative test being necessary for restaurants and cafes is highly controversial and was one of the reasons the government had to scrap a similar plan earlier this month. Austria’s Chamber of Commerce has complained that such a rule could be impossible for businesses — particularly smaller ones — to police.
Anschober said the decision as to exactly which sectors would require a negative test would depend on the course of the pandemic. As well as the governing centre-right People’s Party (OeVP) and the Greens, the opposition also voted for the law on Thursday, with the only exception being the far-right Freedom Party (FPOe).
While Austria escaped the worst of the first wave of the pandemic last spring with a rapid lockdown. But two further lockdowns have had to be introduced and the latest has failed to bring infections under the target of 100 per 100,000 people over a seven-day average.
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