Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: Europe, which alone lost over 1.4 million lives to Covid-19 since February 2020, has refused to learn. So, it may queue up again at hospitals and burial grounds. On Friday, Austria became the first European nation to announce a nationwide lockdown from November 22 to beat the fresh wave now sweeping across the Continent.
Austria had already begun a lockdown on November 15 for the unvaccinated or those recently cured, becoming the first EU country to do so.
In Vienna, Chancellor Alexander Schellenberg announced Austria will impose a lockdown from Monday next for all and make vaccinations mandatory, making his country the first in the European Union to take such stringent measures as coronavirus cases spiralled across the EU countries, the media reported.
On average, only 67 per cent of Europeans have so far been fully vaccinated while 66 per cent of Austrians got the two jabs, one of the lowest in the EU. That means around one-third of Europeans are still partially vaccinated or unvaccinated, the latter being viewed as potential spreaders of the virus.
The World Health Organization (WHO), on Thursday, expressed concern that Europe is the only region on the planet to report a resurgence of infections in such large numbers. In the last couple of weeks, Russia, Germany, France, among other nations, reported several thousands of infections daily.
Some of these nations are exporting vaccines but cannot vaccinate all of their own citizens because of their reluctance.
Austria is now planning to make Covid-19 vaccinations mandatory from February 1, 2022, to contain fresh waves of the pandemic. The lockdown, starting from Monday, will be reviewed after 10 days, Schellenberg said.
“Despite months of persuasion, we have failed in convincing enough people to get vaccinated,” he told a press conference after meeting regional government heads. He blamed those refusing to be vaccinated for an “attack on the health system”.
During the lockdown, people may not leave their houses, except for shopping for essential articles, and exercising.
Despite measures, infections continued to rise. On Thursday, over 15,000 fresh cases were recorded in Austria, which has a population of nearly nine million.
Other European countries are also tightening the restrictions as cases surge across the Continent where the pandemic struck with a vengeance in mid-2020.
On Saturday, Austria’s neighbor Hungary made wearing masks even indoors mandatory. Last month, Latvia had imposed similar restrictions.
Germany, Europe’s largest economy, has also warned of similar prohibitions after the fourth wave of Covid-19 struck it. Health Minister Jens Spahn declared a national emergency this week, urging the people to reduce their social contact. He also warned that vaccinations alone would not reduce infection numbers.
Asked if Germany could also follow an Austrian-style full lockdown, he said: “We can’t rule anything out. We are in a national emergency.”
As infection cases rise again across Europe, several governments reimposed limits on activity, ranging from Austria’s full lockdown to a partial lockdown in the Netherlands, to restrictions on the unvaccinated parts of Germany, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.