Austria supports EU's Russia sanctions
Chancellor Karl Nehammer on Tuesday evening reiterated Austria's support for sanctions agreed by the EU against Russia, after President Vladimir Putin ordered troops into eastern Ukraine in what has been call
"Austria is and will remain a militarily neutral country. However, we have a clear position and opinion when it comes to compliance with international law and we act in harmony with Europe," he said. "We must continue to rely fully on diplomacy to prevent a war in the middle of Europe."
One of the domestic issues for Austria is the impact on gas supply, as Austria gets a large proportion of its gas from Russia.
ORF reported that some of the 10,000 Ukrainians living in Vienna were gathering in St Barbara's Church in the capital to pray for peace in their home country.
Austria to stop 'Kurzarbeit' from the end of March
Labour Minister Martin Kocher announced this mornking that Austria's 'short-term work' scheme set up in response to the Covid pandemic will end at the end of next month. Under this scheme, employees received between 80 to 90 percent of their salaries with the state covering the costs, and 120,000 companies took advantage of the opportunity.
In a transition phase, companies in the most severely affected industries can continue using a non-Covid 'short-term work' scheme, under which the government covers a lower proportion of the costs, until the end of June.
3G rule for workplaces to be scrapped
This was the other announcement from Kocher, who said that with the re-opening steps planned from March 5th, the 3G requirement for workplaces (proof of vaccination, recovery or a negative test is currently mandatory for any workers who can't rule out contactw ith others) would also be removed.
Which groups have Austria's highest vaccination rates?
According to Statistics Austria, just under 70 percent of the population is considered vaccinated against Covid-19, however a further nine percent have some level of protection from the virus from previous infection, leaving around 22 percent at high risk from the virus.
Vaccination rates were highest amongst older people, those with university level education, and people who were employed. The vaccination rate was higher among people born in Austria than those born abroad but there were also differences linked to country of origin, with natives of four countries (Czech Republic, Germany, Italy and Afghanistan) having a higher vaccination rate than native Austrians. You can read more detail on the new stats here.
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