Austria plans to let restaurants, hotels and theatres reopen on May 19

Austria plans to loosen its coronavirus restrictions on May 19, letting restaurants, hotels and theatres reopen their doors for the first time in more than five months, the government said on Friday despite concerns about stubbornly high infections. Austria has had three national lockdowns during the pandemic, the last of which was loosened in February to let non-essential shops reopen and switch back to a nighttime curfew from all-day restrictions on movement.

Austria plans to loosen its coronavirus restrictions on May 19, letting restaurants, hotels and theatres reopen their doors for the first time in more than five months, the government said on Friday despite concerns about stubbornly high infections.

Austria has had three national lockdowns during the pandemic, the last of which was loosened in February to let non-essential shops reopen and switch back to a nighttime curfew from all-day restrictions on movement. Rising infections in the east of the country, however, forced Vienna and the surrounding province to reintroduce a lockdown over Easter that is still in effect as hospitals remain strained by the more infectious variant of the virus first detected in Britain. There are still more than 2,000 infections a day nationally.

"The light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter," Chancellor Sebastian Kurz told a news conference. He conceded that the move would increase infections but added that accelerating vaccinations particularly of the over-65s meant hospitalisations would not necessarily increase. A government statement published at the same time said a nighttime curfew would be scrapped, though meetings between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. would generally be limited to four adults.

Tables in restaurants and cafes will be limited to 10 people outdoors and four people indoors while cultural events will be subjected to various restrictions and capped at 3,000 people outdoors and 1,500 people indoors, the statement said.