Austria: How much you'll be fined for leaving Tyrol without a test
New restrictions to limit the spread of the South African variant of the coronavirus means from Friday onwards, you can only leave North Tyrol with a negative corona test result or risk a €1,450 fine.
Around 1,000 police and armed forces officers will ensure these travel restrictions are observed.
The test result must not be more than 48 hours old. Children do not need to provide a test.
This regulation initially applies for ten days.
East Tyrol, which is geographically separated from North Tyrol, remains unaffected by this measure for the time being as there has been no evidence or suspected cases of virus mutations there.
Der Standard reported Federal Chancellor Sebastian Kurz had coordinated with the Tyrolean state government to introduce the measures following a period of “open conflict” between Tyrolean ÖVP politicians and Health Minister Rudolf Anschober, who is in the Green Party.
Last Sunday, talks regarding new measures even had to be broken off without result because the ÖVP Tyrolean governor Günther Platter refused to cooperate.
Tyrol has seen more than 400 cases of the South African variant of the coronavirus so far. On Tuesday, the mutation was also detected in the state of Styria.
READ MORE: South African coronavirus variant detected in second Austrian state
'Enormous challenge'
Kurz gave a press conference on Tuesday in which he said the South African variant was an "enormous challenge" due to its possible impact on the vaccine rollout.
He also wrote on his Facebook page that AstraZeneca vaccine might be less effective against the more contagious South African virus variant.
Around 50 percent of the vaccines ordered for Austria come from AstraZeneca, which has been shown to be significantly less effective with the South African variant mutant B.1.351.
The outbreak of the mutant in Tyrol is currently the largest outside of South Africa.
Not legally binding
The warning telling people not to travel to Tyrol, which was issued by the government on Monday, is not legally binding.
READ MORE: Austria imposes statewide isolation order in Tyrol due to coronavirus variant
However, the consumer protection association (VSV) says people who travel to the area, fall ill and need to quarantine, could be judged to have been “grossly negligent” which could lead to problems with their employer.
Anyone who was legally in Tyrol and was harmed by an infection because the travel warning came so late, also has a claim for damages against the republic, said the chairman of the association Peter Kolba.
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Around 1,000 police and armed forces officers will ensure these travel restrictions are observed.
The test result must not be more than 48 hours old. Children do not need to provide a test.
This regulation initially applies for ten days.
East Tyrol, which is geographically separated from North Tyrol, remains unaffected by this measure for the time being as there has been no evidence or suspected cases of virus mutations there.
Der Standard reported Federal Chancellor Sebastian Kurz had coordinated with the Tyrolean state government to introduce the measures following a period of “open conflict” between Tyrolean ÖVP politicians and Health Minister Rudolf Anschober, who is in the Green Party.
Last Sunday, talks regarding new measures even had to be broken off without result because the ÖVP Tyrolean governor Günther Platter refused to cooperate.
Tyrol has seen more than 400 cases of the South African variant of the coronavirus so far. On Tuesday, the mutation was also detected in the state of Styria.
READ MORE: South African coronavirus variant detected in second Austrian state
'Enormous challenge'
Kurz gave a press conference on Tuesday in which he said the South African variant was an "enormous challenge" due to its possible impact on the vaccine rollout.
He also wrote on his Facebook page that AstraZeneca vaccine might be less effective against the more contagious South African virus variant.
Around 50 percent of the vaccines ordered for Austria come from AstraZeneca, which has been shown to be significantly less effective with the South African variant mutant B.1.351.
The outbreak of the mutant in Tyrol is currently the largest outside of South Africa.
Not legally binding
The warning telling people not to travel to Tyrol, which was issued by the government on Monday, is not legally binding.
READ MORE: Austria imposes statewide isolation order in Tyrol due to coronavirus variant
However, the consumer protection association (VSV) says people who travel to the area, fall ill and need to quarantine, could be judged to have been “grossly negligent” which could lead to problems with their employer.
Anyone who was legally in Tyrol and was harmed by an infection because the travel warning came so late, also has a claim for damages against the republic, said the chairman of the association Peter Kolba.
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