Austria has become the first country in Europe to introduce a national Covid-19 compulsory vaccine mandate for adults.
From Tuesday, all citizens aged 18 and over will need to be fully vaccinated against the virus or face fines of up to €3,600 (£3008).
The Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer also announced that lockdown restrictions for vaccinated people, which have been in place since November, will end at midnight on Monday.
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Exemptions to the Austrian Compulsory vaccine mandate
Some exemptions are permitted. Pregnant women and people who for medical reasons can’t be vaccinated will be exempted, as will people who have recovered from infection in the past six months.
The EU member state also plans to loosen coronavirus restrictions, with restaurants allowed to remain open until midnight from Saturday.
Meanwhile, unvaccinated citizens will no longer be barred from entering shops and restaurants in a phasing out of anti-COVID measures later this month.
The changes come despite record-high new infection numbers in recent days, fuelled by the omicron variant. But Nehammer said the low rate of hospitalisations means additional steps forward are possible.
Austrian protesters rally against COVID restrictions
Protesters demonstrate against policies such as compulsory vaccine mandates, with fines for those who refuse the jab.
Belgian police fire water cannon at anti-lockdown protests
Tens of thousands of people have rallied in Vienna in protest against restrictions introduced to halt the spread of coronavirus in Austria, including mandatory COVID-19 vaccines and home confinement orders for the unvaccinated.
About 1,400 police officers were on duty on Saturday to oversee the protest, which attracted an estimated 44,000 people and followed a similar demonstration in Vienna, the Austrian capital last week.
Police said three people were arrested for offences including the use of fireworks and disregarding the requirement to wear masks. Journalists covering the event, which began in Heldenplatz square, were attacked with snowballs and ice, and one reporter was the victim of an attempted assault, police said.
Vaccinating children under 5
Pfizer Inc and Germany’s BioNTech SE are expected to submit an emergency use authorization request as early as Tuesday to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for vaccines for children aged six months to 5 years.
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