Austria will broaden mandatory mask wearing and shorten the quarantine for health care workers to curb record coronavirus infections and ensure hospitals continue to function.
The government is stepping back from a decision to remove most restrictions after daily infections reached record highs and modeling points to elevated case counts for the next two weeks.
Speaking to reporters on Friday, Johannes Rauch, appointed this month as Austria’s health minister, said intensive-care unit occupancy remained low, but that hospitals were struggling to care for all patients due to the number of doctors and nurses becoming infected.
Austria has registered an average of more than 3,500 cases per 100,000 inhabitants over the past seven days. Last week, the government said it was suspending a law that made vaccinations mandatory.
