BERLIN (AP) — Austria plans to reopen restaurants, bars, hotels, cultural and sports facilities on May 19 after several months of restrictions and closures, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz mentioned Friday.
Announcing the plan for a wide-ranging relaxation of coronavirus curbs, Kurz mentioned that people wanting to use the facilities that are reopening will have to be tested or vaccinated or to have recovered from a COVID-19 infection.
He mentioned that another restriction will remain in place: a maximum of 10 individuals per table will be allowed outside restaurants and 4 adults per table inside. And there will be limits on how many individuals can use gyms, for example.
Cultural and sports events will be allowed with a maximum of 1,500 spectators indoors and 3,000 outdoors — with masks and assigned seats.
“These steps toward opening are happening with strict safety concepts, but they are happening and that is the good news,” Kurz mentioned.
He pointed to Austria’s accelerating vaccination campaign and mentioned authorities’ aim to loosen restrictions further by July 1, for example allowing wedding events and events without assigned seats.
Tourism is an important industry for the Alpine nation and Kurz mentioned: “I want to mention explicitly that we’re of course looking forward to seeing guests from abroad again from May 19.” Quarantine requirements will remain in place for some “high-risk areas.”
Kurz mentioned that authorities aim to return to in-person teaching in schools, where possible, on May 17.
Austria was one of the first nations in Western Europe to mandate the use of masks last yr, and the government was able to ease its first lockdown quickly.
Like several other European nations, it has struggled since the fall to find a balance between allowing and restricting activities. Austria bet heavily on opening up some sectors for individuals with negative tests but hadn’t till now been able to break a succession of lockdowns — at least in some regions.
