Austria to ease virus rules after vaccine mandate begins

VIENNA (AP) — Austrian officials plan to loosen coronavirus restrictions in February. The announcement Saturday came just days before the country’s national vaccine mandate takes effect on Tuesday. Starting Feb. 5, Austrian restaurants will be allowed to remain open two hours later, until midnight. In addition, Chancellor Karl Nehammer said rules effectively barring unvaccinated people from stores and restaurants will be phased out. The new loosened restrictions come in spite of Austria’s record-high new infection numbers in recent days. As of this week, the daily infections were 10 times the number posted in early January.  Officials expect the omicron wave to peak in Austria during the first week of February.