Vienna Mayor Ludwig suggests nighttime curfew also for vaccinated people though general lockdown must be prevented

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In the current situation, nothing can be ruled out, said Michael Ludwig (SPÖ). However, he still wants to prevent a general lockdown.

The number of new corona cases remains dramatic. In view of the current situation one can exclude “nothing at all”, stressed mayor Michael Ludwig on Tuesday.

As reported, a further tightening is to come into force in Vienna this week. In it the 2Gplus rule (vaccinated or recovered plus PCR test, which may not be older than 48 hours) for the night catering and events over 25 persons are contained. What exactly that pertains to is still being defined by the city’s lawyers, he said. One has with high pressure at the ordinance text, stressed Ludwig. In the process, it still needs to be clarified whether the FFP2 mask requirement, which will then once again apply in all non-private rooms (such as offices or stores) for employees, will also apply in the workplace. According to Ludwig, talks are underway with the social partners on this issue. The regulation is expected to come into force this week, with Thursday the most likely date.

It is difficult to say at present whether this will be the case. After all, the infection situation could also make further measures necessary in Vienna. “A general lockdown must be prevented,” Ludwig emphasizes. Whether there will nevertheless be a nightly curfew for everyone, as was recently discussed by Health Minister Wolfgang Mückstein remains open.

In any case, Vienna will continue to follow “a consistent path”. This also applies to the “gold standard” in testing: “With ‘Alles gurgelt’ we have created a PCR infrastructure that is also an international model. Around 200,000 tests are evaluated in Vienna every day. There are very few false positives,” the mayor emphasized. Ludwig currently rules out the possibility of problems arising in Vienna, as in other federal states. Asked whether Vienna is facing a bottleneck in test kits or evaluation capacities, Ludwig said “not for the time being.”