Austria tightens controls at border

Austria wants to prevent new variants of the coronavirus from spreading in the country. The government is therefore going to significantly tighten border controls, Minister Karl Nehammer announced on Sunday.

Nehammer has coordinated this measure with, among others, his German colleague Horst Seehofer. That means border control will be stricter  at the borders with Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Italy. This was already the case on the connecting roads with Slovenia, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic.

In order to ensure that foreign tourists stay at home, the authorities also announced that strict controls will be carried out in the ski resorts. "In times of a pandemic, it is important to keep travel movements to an absolute minimum," Nehammer said. He said that since December, three million people have been checked at a border crossing, 200,000 of them had to be quarantined.

Austria, however, did ease its lockdown on Monday after six weeks. Trade can be resumed, schools and hairdressers are allowed to open the doors again. However, they must comply with the required hygiene conditions.

Updated on February 08, 2021.

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