Covid-19 pandemic: Austria imposes full lockdown, Germany to follow

Austria will become the first country in western Europe to reimpose a full Covid-19 lockdown, it said on Friday as neighbouring Germany warned it may follow suit, sending shivers through financial markets worried about the economic fallout.

A fourth wave of infections has plunged Germany, Europe's largest economy, into a national emergency, Health Minister Jens Spahn said. He urged people to reduce their social contacts, warning that vaccinations alone would not reduce case numbers.

Austria said it would require the whole population to be vaccinated as of February.

Roughly two-thirds of Austria's population is fully vaccinated against Covid-19, one of the lowest rates in western Europe. Its infections are among the highest on the continent, with a seven-day incidence of 991 per 100,000 people.

“We have not succeeded in convincing enough people to get vaccinated,” Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg told a news conference, saying the lockdown would start on Monday and the requirement to be vaccinated on Feb. 1.

“It hurts that such measures still have to be taken.” Asked if Germany could rule out an Austrian-style full lockdown, Spahn said: “We are now in a situation - even if this produces a news alert - where we can't rule anything out. “We are in a national emergency,” he told a news conference.

European stocks retreated from record highs, while government bond yields, oil prices and the euro tumbled as the spectre of a fresh Covid-linked lockdown in Germany and other parts of Europe cast a fresh shadow over the global economy.

Ho Chi Minh City shuts bars, spas

Vietnam’s commercial hub of Ho Chi Minh City has ordered bars, spas and karaoke clubs to shut two days after allowing them to reopen to stem another coronavirus surge as cases climbed anew. The city government reversed course because the Covid-19 outbreak “is still complicated with hidden risks,” according to a statement on the city’s website on Thursday. Restrictions on the establishments were lifted on 16 November.