Austria ended lockdown restrictions for vaccinated people across most of the country on Sunday, three weeks after reimposing strict rules to combat a rising wave of coronavirus infections.
The rules, which vary by region within the country, largely allow for the reopening of theatres, museums and other cultural and entertainment venues on Sunday. Shops will follow on Monday.
Some regions are reopening restaurants and hotels on Sunday, while others will wait until later in the month. In all cases, there will be an 11 p.m. curfew for restaurants, and masks will still be required on public transit and inside stores and public spaces.
Chancellor Karl Nehammer last week called the move an “opening with a seatbelt,” giving each of Austria’s nine regions the ability to loosen or tighten restrictions based on the local situation.
Unvaccinated people will still be subject to the lockdown restrictions and should remain at home for all but a handful of specific reasons, such as buying groceries, going to the doctor or exercising.
A protester wears a hat spiked with syringes reading ‘Peace — Freedom — Self-Rule’ during a demonstration against the Austrian government’s COVID-19 measures in Graz on Sunday. (Erwin Scheriau/APA/AFP/Getty Images)
Since the start of the lockdown, new case numbers have plummeted in the small Alpine country. On Friday, Austria reported 367.5 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants, down from 1,102.4 on the first day of the lockdown in November.
However, hospitalizations from the virus have not dropped as sharply as new case numbers. There are currently 567 coronavirus patients in intensive-care units across the country, only slightly down from 572 on the first day of the lockdown last month.
Austrian officials have stressed that high rates of vaccination are necessary to control the virus. Just 67.7 per cent of the population is fully vaccinated, a relatively low rate for western Europe, and the government has introduced measures to put increasing pressure on unvaccinated individuals to get the vaccine.
Among those measures are a countrywide vaccine mandate, which will go into effect in February for all residents aged 14 and over. Those who do not comply will face fines of up to 3,600 euros (about $5,200 Cdn).
Tens of thousands of people have protested across the country in recent weeks, both against the lockdown restrictions and the coming vaccine mandate. Police said a Saturday demonstration in the capital city, Vienna, drew 44,000 people.
— The Associated Press, last updated at 9:45 a.m. ET
What’s happening across Canada
WATCH | Modelling suggests omicron poses threat, but worst could be avoided:
COVID-19 modelling suggests omicron poses threat, but worst could be avoided
2 days ago
Duration 3:34
New modelling data presented by federal officials is projecting a rise in COVID-19 cases from the omicron variant. But there’s optimism hospitalizations and ICU admissions won’t surge if more kids get vaccinated and booster shots are rolled out for more age groups. 3:34
What’s happening around the world
A Palestinian medical worker vaccinates a man against COVID-19 in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, on Sunday. (Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters)
As of Sunday afternoon, more than 269.9 million cases of COVID-19 had been reported worldwide, according to Johns Hopkins University’s tracking tool. The reported death toll has surpassed 5.3 million.
More than half a billion people globally were pushed into extreme poverty last year as they paid for health costs out of their own pockets during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the World Health Organization and the World Bank said on Sunday.
The pandemic disrupted health services globally and triggered the worst economic crisis since the 1930s, making it even more difficult for people to pay for health care, according to a joint statement from both organizations.
In the Asia-Pacific region, Australia said on Sunday it will shorten the wait time for people to receive a COVID-19 booster to five months, following a rise in cases of the omicron variant. Australia had previously said it would offer the booster to everyone over 18 who had had their second dose of the vaccine six months earlier.
A flight crew member and a traveller arrive at the international terminal at Sydney Airport last month. Australia is shortening the wait time for people to receive a COVID-19 booster. (Loren Elliott/Reuters)
In the Americas, the United States on Sunday was approaching 800,000 coronavirus-related deaths. The country has lost more lives to the virus this year than in 2020, even as vaccines became widely and freely available, due to the more contagious delta variant and people refusing to get inoculated against COVID-19.
Roughly 60 per cent of the U.S. population has been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, CDC data showed. The deaths this year were mostly in unvaccinated patients, health experts say.
In Europe, the British government raised the country’s official coronavirus threat level on Sunday, warning that the rapid spread of the omicron variant had pushed the U.K. into risky territory.
The chief medical officers of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland said the emergence of the highly transmissible new strain “adds additional and rapidly increasing risk to the public and health care services” at a time when COVID-19 is already widespread. They recommended raising the alert level from 3 to 4 on a 5-point scale.
The number of registered COVID-19 cases in Russia now exceeds 10 million, data from the government’s coronavirus task showed on Sunday. However, the latest wave of the pandemic has lost its momentum, and the number of new cases and deaths is declining.
Alexander Gintsburg, head of the Gamaleya Research Institute that produced the Sputnik V vaccine, said 10 days would be enough to test the efficiency of Russia’s most popular vaccine against the omicron variant, RIA news agency reported on Sunday.
In the Middle East, Israeli researchers said on Saturday they found that a three-shot course of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine provided significant protection against the new omicron variant.
The findings were similar to those presented by BioNTech and Pfizer earlier in the week, which were an early signal that booster shots could be key to protect against infection from the newly identified variant.
In Africa, South Africa on Saturday reported 17,154 new COVID-19 cases and a further 36 deaths.
— From Reuters, The Associated Press and CBC News, last updated at 12:45 p.m. ET
LONGUEUIL, Que. – People in a part of Longueuil, Que., were being asked to stay indoors with their doors and windows closed on Thursday morning after a train derailed, spilling an unknown quantity of hydrogen peroxide.
Police from the city just east of Montreal said it didn’t appear anyone was hurt, although a CN rail official told a news conference that three employees had been taken to hospital as a precautionary measure.
The derailment happened at around 9 a.m. in the LeMoyne area, near the intersection of St-Louis and St-Georges streets. Mathieu Gaudreault, a spokesman for CN rail, said about eight cars derailed at the Southwark rail facility, including four that toppled over.
“As of this morning, the information we have is it’s hydrogen peroxide that was in the rail car and created the fumes we saw,” he said, adding that there was no risk of fire.
François Boucher, a spokesman for the Longueuil police department, said police were asking people in the area, including students at nearby schools, to stay indoors while experts ensure the air is safe to breathe.
“It is as a preventive measure that we encourage people to really avoid exposing themselves unnecessarily,” he told reporters near the scene.
Police and fire officials were on site, as well as CN railworkers, and a large security perimeter was erected.
Officers were asking people to avoid the sector, and the normally busy Highway 116 was closed in the area. The confinement notice includes everyone within 800 metres of the derailment, officials said, who added that it would be lifted once a team with expertise in dangerous materials has given the green light.
In addition to closing doors and windows, people in the area covered by the notice are asked to close heating, ventilation and air exchange systems, and to stay as far from windows as possible.
Gaudreault said it wasn’t yet clear what caused the derailment. The possibilities include a problem with the track, a problem with a manoeuvre, or a mechanical issue, he said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 14, 2024.
HALIFAX – Nova Scotia’s Liberal party is promising to improve cellphone service and invest in major highways if the party is elected to govern on Nov. 26.
Party leader Zach Churchill says a Liberal government would spend $60 million on building 87 new cellphone towers, which would be in addition to the $66 million the previous Progressive Conservative government committed to similar projects last year.
As well, Churchill confirmed the Liberals want to improve the province’s controlled access highways by adding exits along Highway 104 across the top of the mainland, and building a bypass along Highway 101 near Digby.
Churchill says the Liberals would add $40 million to the province’s $500 million capital budget for highways.
Meanwhile, the leaders of the three major political parties were expected to spend much of today preparing for a televised debate that will be broadcast tonight at 6 p.m. local time.
Churchill will face off against Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Houston and NDP Leader Claudia Chender during a 90-minute debate that will be carried live on CBC TV and streamed online.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 14, 2024.
TORONTO – A group of hotel service workers in Toronto is set to hold a rally today outside the Fairmont Royal York to demand salary increases as hotel costs in the city skyrocket during Taylor Swift’s concerts.
Unite Here Local 75, the union representing 8,000 hospitality workers in the Greater Toronto Area, says Royal York employees have not seen a salary increase since 2021, and have been negotiating a new contract with the hotel since 2022.
The rally comes as the megastar begins her series of six sold-out concerts in Toronto, with the last show scheduled for Nov. 23.
During show weekends, some hotel rooms and short-term rentals in Toronto are priced up to 10 times more than other weekends, with some advertised for as much as $2,000 per night.
The union says hotel workers who will be serving Swifties during her Toronto stops are bargaining for raises to keep up with the rising cost of living.
The union represents hospitality workers including food service employees, room attendants and bell persons.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 14, 2024.
