Opposition blocks amendment to the law. Health Minister invites you to debate at 12.30 p.m. Nevertheless, mass tests will start again in Vienna on Friday.
Tests in Austria
The lockdown in Austria will de facto be extended by one week. In view of the opposition blockade announced on Sunday, there is no possibility of Friday testing. This means that trade, gastronomy, tourism and probably also schools will only be able to open on January 24th. The ÖVP club chairman August Wöginger confirmed on Monday in an interview with the APA.
“The opposition has closed in concrete,” said Wöginger. “Now a national alliance would have been necessary, but if there is no majority in the Federal Council, the week of opening from January 18th cannot go as planned. We are now trying to proceed after January 24th,” said the ÖVP club chairman.
When asked whether the schools will also remain closed, Wöginger replied: “Yes, lockdown is lockdown.”
Health Minister Rudolf Anschober (Greens) later confirmed that the Freitesten project had failed.
Still start for mass tests
Originally it was planned that those who undergo a test would be able to gain advantages a week earlier – such as visiting cultural and sporting events or purchasing goods that are not needed every day, such as clothes or books. In addition, personal service providers such as hairdressers should be able to receive customers again on January 17th and schools should start classroom teaching.
Nevertheless, mass tests will start again in Vienna on Friday, January 8th. As usual, you can have yourself tested at three locations – in the Stadthalle, in the Marxhalle and in the Messe Wien – until January 17th. Registrations for Vienna, Upper Austria (except Linz), Styria and Burgenland are now possible (oesterreich-testet.at).
Opposition refuses to approve
A corresponding amendment, which would have made the freest possible, was sent for assessment on December 31st. On Sunday, however, the opposition announced for various reasons that it would refuse to approve the law. This means that the bill could pass the National Council, but would be put on hold by the Federal Council for around two months thanks to the narrow majority of the SPÖ, FPÖ and NEOS (31:30).
It is so clear to the coalition that the lockdown must be extended by a week. Government circles told the APA that their plan to open up trade, schools and culture by means of free tests on January 18 would no longer be feasible due to the attitude of the opposition. The lockdown will now apply to everyone in Austria until January 24th.
How to proceed now
Today at 12.30 p.m. Health Minister Anschober invites the opposition representatives to a debate. The conversation should originally have taken place at 10 a.m., but Anschober postponed it because there was a video conference between the federal and state governments beforehand.
In order for there to be an agreement, the government would have to submit a completely new proposal – it would have until Thursday or Friday, when a special session of the National Council is planned. With a compromise it could end with the freest from January 18th. But that has now been ruled out, first by ÖVP club boss Wöginger, then also by Health Minister Anschober.
The Neos said on Monday morning that they were “always ready to talk” if Anschober should bring new and different suggestions. You are calling for a “much narrower” amendment to the law with a “much more precise mapping of the planned rules”. The amendment is currently too broad – Anschober would have too much leeway to issue further rules in ordinances that are not yet known.
SPÖ against “threatening gestures” by the government
The SPÖ considers the government's announcement to extend the lockdown to January 24 due to the lack of an agreement as a “threatening gesture”. The Tyrolean SPÖ boss Georg Dornauer says: “If the government thinks it can sell the people in our country for stupid, politically blackmail the opposition, and arbitrarily – without the relevant facts and legal situation – lock up the population for a week longer and thus the entire population Cause further damage to the economy, then the Chancellor (Sebastian Kurz, ÖVP, note) leaned too far out of the window in his detachment this time, “said Dornauer. The Tyrolean SPÖ leader had already recommended two days ago to his party to vote against the most free.
“The most free, as the Chancellor imagines, is unconstitutional, is described by leading virologists as pointless, since it is only a snapshot and proves once again that the rulers have long lost control of the matter,” criticized Dornauer . He also said that anyone who adheres to the hard lockdown until January 18th does not need confirmation from his point of view to be allowed to visit a retail shop or an inn.
The FPÖ calls for the lockdown to be “ended as soon as possible”. There needs to be “effective protection for the particularly endangered people in old people's homes and nursing homes. So far, most of the infection has taken place there. This requires the use of all available resources,” says FPÖ boss Norbert Hofer. Club boss Herbert Kickl invites you to a press conference today at 1 p.m.
Germany will probably extend its lockdown by two to three weeks, i.e. until the end of January, due to bad corona numbers.
“Free testing”: Puchhammer-Stöckl sees this critically
From an epidemiological point of view, the virologist Elisabeth Puchhammer-Stöckl spoke critically about the idea of the Friday evening in ZIB 2 on Sunday . You already have a “problem” with the “freestyle term” alone. In her criticism, she referred to the fact that a rapid test was only valid for the day in question. Antigen tests immediately before events would “make sense”, but a test that is a week old does not.
