“Europe is now looking at Austria to see if this lockdown is going to have a profound effect. “Across Europe, we are seeing a fourth wave, and there is concern among all European governments,” he said. On Friday, it reported 15,809 new infections, an all-time high.Īl Jazeera’s Andrew Simmons, reporting from Vienna, said European governments will be watching the situation in Austria closely as they too consider reimposing restrictions. The details of how the mandate will work are not yet clear, but the government has said people who do not adhere to it will face fines.Īustrian Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg apologised to all vaccinated people on Friday, saying it was not fair that they had to suffer under the renewed lockdown restrictions.Įarlier, Austria had imposed a lockdown solely for unvaccinated people but this did not slow infections enough. Non-essential shops have closed and Austrians are being asked to work from home if possible.įewer than 66 percent of Austria’s 8.9 million people are fully vaccinated, and inoculations have plateaued at one of the lowest rates in Western Europe.Īs it locks down again, Austria is also introducing a vaccine mandate as of February 1 in a bid to curtail transmission rates, making it the first European country to enshrine inoculation against COVID-19 as a legal requirement.
Under the measures, people can only leave home for specific reasons, including buying groceries, going to the doctor, or exercising.
#Pure edge for mac full#
It makes Austria the first Western European country to reimpose a full shutdown since vaccines became widely available. The lockdown will last at least 10 days but could extend to 20, officials said. Monday’s move in the Alpine nation comes as average daily deaths have tripled in recent weeks and hospitals in heavily hit states warn that their intensive care units are approaching peak capacity. Meanwhile, Austria has re-entered a full national lockdown in an effort to contain rocketing coronavirus infections. Signs inform guests of a restaurant that access is given only to people who are vaccinated, tested negative or who have recovered from COVID-19 in Munich Cases surge in Austria “We have a very, very difficult situation in many hospitals,” Spahn said. The European Union’s most populous country, Germany added another 30,643 cases on Monday, according to the Robert Koch Institute health agency, bringing the total since the start of the pandemic to just more than 5.3 million.Īlmost 100,000 people have died so far, including 62 during the past 24 hours. “We have a highly dramatic situation” as new infections “double every 12 days”, Merkel told a meeting of leaders of her conservative CDU party, according to participants. Outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel warned that Germany’s current COVID restrictions, including barring the unvaccinated from certain public spaces “are not enough”. In regions with high hospitalisation rates, the unvaccinated will be barred from public spaces like cinemas, gyms and indoor dining. “Probably by the end of this winter, as is sometimes cynically said, pretty much everyone in Germany will be vaccinated, cured or dead,” Jens Spahn said, as he urged more Germans to get the jab.Īs intensive care beds fill up fast, Germany’s worst-hit regions have ordered new shutdowns, including the closure of Christmas markets. Perhaps I would have felt much differently if Microsoft had decided to base their browser on Firefox.The German health minister has warned citizens that they would be either “vaccinated, cured or dead” from COVID-19 by the end of winter as several European countries impose restrictions amid surging infections. especially something so important as the web browser (arguably the new OS on top of an OS). It is particularly alarming to have the two "team up" on something. But it is very true that Google seems to be sliding into that vacuum MS is creating.
Microsoft is still a huge and powerful threat to other organizations, regardless. a caution about any company or entity that attains too much power and influence and then uses it to crush competition by way of their position. So when I fly the "embrace, extend, extinguish" banner, it is a valid caution. The same strategy has been adopted by Oracle and many other companies. But more importantly, it isn't just about Microsoft. but Microsoft caused a lot of wounds in my long InfoSys career that really might take even longer to heal with their relatively recent "more decent" behavior. I don't know your age or how long you have been engaged in watching such things. >"Microsoft has changed, massively, and yet you haven't."įair enough.