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Shops in Austria forced to close from 7pm

The Local Austria
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Shops in Austria forced to close from 7pm
Photo: GEORG HOCHMUTH / APA / AFP

Austria has announced a new stricter shutdown measure to apply from Wednesday, with shops to be forced to close from 7pm daily.

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The measure was confirmed by the Ministry of Social Affairs, reported Austria’s Der Standard newspaper early on Tuesday. 

The measure will apply from Wednesday, November 11th, until November 22nd. 

This does not apply to petrol stations, ticket offices at train stations or to airports. 

READ MORE: Austria to re-enter 'hard lockdown' on Tuesday as Covid-19 cases soar 

"This restriction of the opening times is intended to ensure that purchases are made in good time before the start of the exit restriction, so that the ordinance's goal of the greatest possible reduction in mobility in the evening and night hours can be taken into account as best as possible," the ministry said in a broadcast.

"The aim of this regulation is therefore to support compliance with the exit restrictions and thus to achieve a further reduction in all unnecessary social contacts."

The tightening of the opening hours comes one week after Austria put in place sweeping new shutdown measures to curb the spread of coronavirus. 

READ: Everything you need to know about Austria's coronavirus shutdown 

The centrepiece of the shutdown - a nightly curfew from 8pm to 6am - will remain in force from the same times. 

Under the previous rules, shops were allowed to remain open to 8pm. 

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More than 5,000 cases recorded again

New coronavirus case numbers continue to remain high across Austria. 

On Monday, 5,593 new cases of coronavirus were recorded - more than 1,500 higher than the corresponding figure on the previous Monday. 

Austria has averaged more than 5,000 new cases per day over the past week. 

The most new cases were recorded in Upper Austria with 1,489. In second place was Lower Austria with 891 positive tests, followed by Vienna with 711 new infections and Styria with 706.

Tyrol followed with 561, Salzburg with 458 and Vorarlberg with 426. 188 new infections were reported from Burgenland and 163 from Carinthia.

 

 

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