Members of the federal government, governors and the experts of the state-wide Covid crisis coordination “GECKO” will sit down this Thursday (Note 6 January, Epiphany) together and put the Corona cards face up on the table once more.
Corona summit convened – is the Omicron lockdown coming?
The meeting will focus on the previous measures in the fight against the pandemic, but the focus will also be on the Omikron variant. The new mutation of the coronavirus is not only on the advance worldwide, but is also spreading more and more in Austria.
“Very rapid changes to be expected”
“The corona situation is still serious, all of our efforts must be aimed at keeping the number of cases as low as possible,” says “GECKO” circles. In plain language: at the summit on Thursday, possible tightening should also be discussed.
With the strict package of measures that currently applies – FFP2 mask requirement, lockdown for unvaccinated people – only “moderate increases in incidence” are recorded. Of course, this helps to gain time, since “very rapid changes” are to be expected due to the Omikron virus variant.
From January 10th lockdown?
To date, it is not known exactly what tightening the experts are thinking. However: there is apparently a lockdown behind the scenes – for everyone! “Today” had already reported about it shortly before Christmasthat restaurateurs are sure that Austria awaits the next lockdown after the holidays.
January 10th is circulating as the start date of the next wave of closings – this is exactly the date he also mentioned Wiener Laufhaus manager Peter Laskarisrecently in conversation with “Today”. There is no official confirmation to date (as of January 3).
In any case, experts are already sharply criticizing politics once more. Politicians are reacting “again much too slowly”, the molecular biologist Ulrich Elling told the “Kurier”: “With the dynamism that Omikron is developing, we have to brake more than ever before it is too late.”
Sharp criticism of the government
According to Elling, “camp beds will have to be set up in the exhibition center in order to take care of all those who are ill at the same time,” if the spread of Omikron is not stopped. In any case, it cannot be completely ruled out that new tightenings will come or be announced on Thursday.
After the meeting, the public will be informed about the next steps in a press conference. The GECKO representatives’ corona summit with the government will take place on Thursday, but that The committee itself will meet tomorrow, Tuesday.
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