Austria sets out plan to reopen many sectors in mid-May

<p>BERLIN &mdash; Austria plans to reopen restaurants, bars, hotels, cultural and sports facilities on May 19 after several months of restrictions and closures, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said Friday.</p>
<p>Announcing the plan for a wide-ranging relaxation of coronavirus curbs, Kurz said that people wanting to use the facilities that are reopening will have to be tested or vaccinated, or to have recovered from a COVID-19 infection.</p>
<p>He said that some other restrictions will remain in place: a maximum 10 people per table will be allowed outside restaurants and four adults per table inside. And there will be limits on how many people can use gyms, for example.</p>
<p>Cultural and sports events will be allowed with a maximum 1,500 spectators indoors and 3,000 outdoors — with masks and assigned seats.</p>
<p>“These steps toward opening are happening with strict safety concepts, but they are happening and that is the good news,” Kurz said.</p>
<p>He pointed to Austria’s accelerating vaccination campaign and said authorities aim to loosen restrictions further by July 1, for example allowing wedding parties and events without assigned seats.</p>
<p>Tourism is an important industry for the Alpine country and Kurz said: “I would like to mention explicitly that we are of course looking forward to seeing guests from abroad again from May 19.” Quarantine requirements will remain in place for some “high-risk areas.”</p>
<p>Kurz said that authorities aim to return to in-person teaching in schools, where possible, on May 17.</p>
<p>Austria was one of the first countries in Western Europe to mandate the use of masks last year, and the government was able to ease its first lockdown quickly. </p>
<p>Like several other European countries, it has struggled since the fall to find a balance between allowing and restricting activities. Austria bet heavily on opening up some sectors for people with negative tests, but hadn’t until now been able to break a succession of lockdowns — at least in some regions.</p>
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