On Saturday, Germany recorded its highest daily number of infections in a single day.
Announcing the move on Friday, Austrian Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg said it would come into force, with medical exemptions, from February 1; though it is not clear what penalties will exist for refusing shots.
In Germany, Markus Söder, the Bavarian state premier, has since spoken about the possibility of following Austria."Just like in Austria, we have to discuss the need for a vaccine mandate for everyone from the second half of next year," he said on Sunday.newspaper:"We've reached a point at which we must clearly say that we need de facto compulsory vaccination and a lockdown for the unvaccinated.
Protests against mandatory vaccinations and reimposing social restrictions have been held in recent days across Europe, where case numbers continue to rise. in Rotterdam on November 19 resulted in a police car being set on fire. Those protests trailed an announcement a week before that the government intended to implement a partial lockdown.