Battling to get rising COVID-19 cases under control, the Austrian government on Friday said it will extend a lockdown of unvaccinated people to the entire nation starting Monday. The will begin on Monday, and run for 10 days, and a maximum of 20 days, according to media reports. Austrian Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg also said it would become a “requirement” to get vaccinated starting Feb. 1. Many European countries, including Germany, are in the grips of surging cases, with Austria’s own vaccine rate among the lowest, at 65%. The government on Sunday imposed restrictions on the unvaccinated. Germany’s health minister Jens Georg Spahn reportedly told a news conference on Friday that lockdowns could not be ruled out in his country, which has also seen soaring cases. “We are now in a situation — even if this produces a news alert — where we can’t rule anything out,” he reportedly said.
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