Austria announces full lockdown and mandatory Covid jabs
| Updated: 10 Feb 2026
Austria announces national Covid lockdown and will become the first country in Europe to make Covid vaccines mandatory by law.
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The country's Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg has said the country will go into a national lockdown to contain a fourth wave of coronavirus cases.
Mr Schallenberg said the lockdown will start on Monday and initially last for 10 days.
Students will have to go back into home schooling, restaurants will close and cultural events will be cancelled.
Starting on February 1, the country will also make vaccinations mandatory, public broadcaster ORF reported.
"We do not want a fifth wave," Mr Schallenberg said, according to ORF.