For variant fear, Austria extended its confinement

Austria will extend its third lockdown until February 8 due to a variant of the coronavirus initially detected in Britain, the government said on Sunday amid growing discontent.

Also read: [PHOTOS] 10,000 anti-mask demonstrators in Vienna

“Our goal is to reopen stores, services and museums on February 8 instead of January 25 as planned,” said Conservative Chancellor Sebastian Kurz.

“For schools, it’s coming back to class in small groups,” he told reporters.

Meanwhile the European country has decided to detain itself for the third time after Christmas and the government has announced that it will bring school children back to class by the end of January.

However it still records 130 contaminants per 100,000 residents per day and the Chancellor said it aims to reduce that number to 50 to prevent a pollution explosion, as in Ireland and Great Britain. .

In addition, Austria has decided to impose a social distance of two meters per person in public places from January 25.

Wearing FFP2 masks will also be mandatory in stores and on public transportation.

The government has no plans to reopen restaurants and hotels until early March and is pushing employees to work from home.

On Saturday, the Vice Rector of the University of Vienna revolted against the support provided by schools that have the authority to provide day care if it is prohibited from providing education.

“Telework should be made mandatory for parents to look after children at home,” Oswald Wagner said.

But Wolfgang Katzian, president of the Austrian Trade Union Confederation, responded: “Everyone who thinks we can cheat between childcare, home schooling and cooking lives outside of reality. Doubt about the moon ”.

According to one study, at various levels, students attended only between 20% and 33% of teaching time since the first detention on March 16th.

70% of Austrians call for companies to reopen, according to the latest survey.

At least 10,000 opponents gathered in Vienna on Saturday to demand government action to force Sebastian Kurz to resign and his policy of containing the epidemic.