Coronavirus: Austria bans all gatherings of more than five people

Authored by independent.co.uk and submitted by m_lar

The Austrian government is limiting people’s movement nationwide.

Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said on Sunday that there should be only three reasons for people to leave home: essential work, essential purchases such as food, and helping other people.

People will be able to go out “only alone or with the people with whom [they] live in their apartment”.

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Mr Kurz’s comments came shortly after the governor of Tyrol province had announced a lockdown for his Alpine region.

Tyrol, an Alpine region popular with skiers, borders northern Italy and is one of the worst-hit areas of Austria, which already has largely shut down public life.

Austria, a country of 8m people, has confirmed 800 coronavirus infections and one death.

More and more countries are taking border measures and restricting movement to try to prevent the spread of the virus.

Norway, which has already closed schools, is set to close its airports and harbours. Slovenia’s government has announced the closure of all public transport.

Italy’s transport minister has signed a decree banning passengers from taking ferries to Sardinia, a large Mediterranean island.

beingdevilv2 on March 15th, 2020 at 13:04 UTC »

Meanwhile my school with 1400 people is still open

Edit : schools are now closed for 3 weeks

m_lar on March 15th, 2020 at 12:44 UTC »

Reuters: Austria imposes major restrictions on movement over coronavirus

Austria introduced major restrictions on movement in public places on Sunday, urging Austrians to self-isolate, banning gatherings of more than five persons and putting further limits on who can enter the country.

Gatherings over five people would only be allowed for activities serving to fight the coronavirus outbreak. People should only leave the house for work that could not be postponed, to buy necessary food supplies and to help others [...].

This is absolutely huge — banning gatherings of over five people in one of the most democratic countries on earth. Austria has 800 confirmed cases as of right now. This is an increase of 145 new cases since the previous day.

Also, since people seem to be confused about how this applies to larger households:

“Austrians are being summoned to isolate themselves,” Chancellor Sebastian Kurz’s office said in a statement. “That means only making social contact with the people with whom they live.”

They are obviously not going to be separating large families and households. This ban applies to public gatherings that are unnecessary and avoidable.

Sonicblue123 on March 15th, 2020 at 12:42 UTC »

I feel for the 6th friend in every group that isn’t going to be invited out anymore. Todd we wanted you to come but ya know..this coronavirus.