The landlocked East Alpine country of Eastern Europe, Austria has registered around 11,000 cases and around 160 mortalities due to COVD-19 till the start of April 2020. In the country with a population of around nine million people, the rate of COVID-19 incidence cases is near to 1,200 cases per million people. Only Italy, Spain, Belgium, Luxembourg, Iceland and Switzerland have a higher rate as compared to Austria (among the countries which have registered more than 1,000 cases).
Due to the pandemic, the country has extended the lockdown period up to 19th April 2020. On March 31, 2020, the government has made it compulsory to wear a face mask outside the home. Authorities are arranging millions of mast to distribute for free and entry will be restricted for the people without wearing a face mask. The Police in the country have enforced strict rules to keep people stay at home and around 10,500 cautions have been already given. The restrictions will not roll back until the daily growth rate of new coronavirus cases falls below 1%.
Moreover, to deal with the economic crises in the country, the government has provided an immediate fund of $4.4 billion as a ‘’corona crises fund’. It would cover multiple items including bridge loans, credit guarantees and so on. Till now, the government has announced a relief fund of more than $41 billion in support services. Out of this, $9.8 billion will be to secure loans by providing guarantees and liabilities, $10.9 billion for tax deferrals and $15 billion for emergency aid. The government has also kept aside more than $435 million in order to prevent companies to lay off people due to bad health conditions. The working hours will be reduced by 10% for the next three months and the employer has to pay only for the hours worked. The rest will be coved by the government. As of now, the scheme is for only the next three months however there are chances that it will extend to six months in the upcoming period.
