Austria is more likely to order a lockdown for unvaccinated folks, its chancellor warns.

New lockdown restrictions for Austria’s unvaccinated inhabitants are doubtless as a result of studies of recent coronavirus circumstances within the nation are rising quickly, Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg stated on Thursday.

Although such restrictions can be a “very harsh measure,” they seem like crucial and “most likely inevitable,” the chancellor stated at a news conference on Thursday.

The Austrian nationwide well being company has reported a mean of 760 coronavirus cases a day for every 100,000 people over the previous week, a price that has greater than doubled since late October.

About 64 p.c of the nation’s inhabitants has been absolutely vaccinated towards the coronavirus thus far — a bigger share than in the US or in Austria’s neighbors to the east, however smaller than in most Western European nations, according to authorities figures collated by the Our World in Knowledge challenge.

The Austrian government said last week that it will ban people who find themselves not absolutely vaccinated from getting into locations like eating places and hair salons; that measure took impact on Monday. A lockdown just like the one Mr. Schallenberg warned about can be rather more restrictive.

“The state of affairs in Austria and different European international locations is severe,” Mr. Schallenberg stated in a statement, noting that hospital intensive care models had been filling up sooner than anticipated.

The chancellor has been speaking concerning the worsening image in Austria for a while. “We’re about to stumble right into a pandemic of the unvaccinated,’’ he informed The Associated Press final month.

At a information convention following a gathering with state governors final Friday, Mr. Schallenberg urged Austrians to get their photographs.

“With a vaccination, we defend not solely ourselves, but in addition our associates, household and colleagues,” he stated, including, “It’s merely our accountability to guard the folks of our nation.”