Austria to enter lockdown, bring in mandatory vaccinations

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Austrian Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg said Friday that the country will go into a national lockdown to contain a fourth wave of coronavirus cases.

Schallenberg said the lockdown will start Monday and initially last for 10 days. Most stores will close, and cultural events will be canceled.

He initially said all students would have to go back into homeschooling. Wolfgang Mueckstein, the country’s health minister, later said that schools would remain open for those who needed to go there but all parents were asked to keep their children at home if possible.

FORMER OBAMA CABINET MEMBER PRAISES AUSTRIA'S DECISION TO LOCK DOWN UNVACCINATED

People wearing face mask to protect against the coronavirus as they visits a Christmas market in Vienna, Austria, Wednesday, Nov. 17, 2021. The Austrian a nationwide lockdown for unvaccinated people is in place to combat rising coronavirus infections and deaths. (AP Photo/Michael Gruber)

Starting on Feb. 1, the country will also make vaccinations mandatory, public broadcaster ORF reported.

"We do not want a fifth wave," Schallenberg said, according to ORF. "Not do we want a sixth or seventh wave."

Austria had initially introduced a national lockdown only for the unvaccinated that started Monday but as virus cases continued to skyrocket the government said it had no choice but to extend it to everyone.

AUSTRIA SET TO IMPOSE NATIONWIDE LOCKDOWN FOR UNVACCINATED

"This is very painful," Schallenberg said.

A demonstrator holds a placard reading 'No to compulsory vaccination' during an anti-vaccination protest at the Ballhausplatz in Vienna, Austria, on November 14, 2021. (Photo by GEORG HOCHMUTH/APA/AFP via Getty Images)

The national lockdown will initially last for 10 days, then the effects will be assessed and if virus cases have not gone down sufficiently, it can be extended to a maximum of 20 days.

Austria, a country of 8.9 million, has one of the lowest vaccination rates in Western Europe. For the past seven days, the country reported more than 10,000 new infection cases daily. 

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Hospitals have been overwhelmed with many new COVID-19 patients, and deaths have been rising again, too.