Austria is reintroducing harsher entry restrictions for travelers from the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Denmark, and Norway due to the spread of Omicron.
Austria has identified a few hundred Omicron cases and it’s bracing for a new wave of infections just days after emerging from a three-week lockdown.
According to the official Austrian travel website “People who are fully vaccinated (double jabbed) and have received the third booster jab can enter Austria with a negative PCR test (valid 72 hours).”
It also offers advice on what to do when traveling with children aged 12 and younger who are still not eligible for vaccines in multiple countries but are accompanied by vaccinated parents.
“These teenagers are obliged to be tested with at least two PCR (valid for 27 hours) and one LFT test (valid for 48 hours) during a week-long period and record the results in the Holiday Ninja Pass. They are also required to present negative results of a PCR test upon arrival in Austria, which counts as the first test.”
Arrivals from those countries will be subject to a strict 10-day quarantine unless they have had a booster vaccine and can produce a negative PCR test, said COVID-19 policy coordinator Katharina Reich at a press briefing.
Some local political parties have objected to the new measures, not because they believe they are unnecessary, but because they think those come into effect too late.
“First they allow thousands of plane passengers into the country for weeks despite Omicron and without a PCR test, and now they should go into 10 days of quarantine,” the NEOS’ deputy faction leader stated, adding that the strategy is not “comprehensible.”
The four European countries will join Angola, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, all of them now classified as “virus variant areas.”
After meeting all of the entry requirements, visitors will find a rather -different- tourist landscape in Austria.
Beginning Dec. 27, all bars, restaurants, and other entertainment businesses will be required to close as early as 10 p.m.
The prohibition will also be in effect on New Year’s Eve. People have also been reminded to celebrate the holiday in small groups and with people who have been vaccinated only.