Central Europe has become the new hotspot for coronavirus cases due to Austria being unable to contain the new variant that was firstly identified in South Africa.          

The governments of Austria and the Czech Republic are forcing Germany to release their new border control policies so that they can start to limit international travel and contain the disease. Luckily for Germany, cases were decreasing recently in spite of the new, more contagious variants. On Friday, Germany recorded 9,860 new infections, which was less than last week’s 3,048. Unfortunately for Austria and the Czech Republic, recorded positive cases have not been decreasing.

           At a press conference, a government representative for Germany spoke about the recent spike and concern facing the country.

 “This means there will be a ban on transportation — and without exceptions, tests must be made before entering Germany — and there is an obligation to quarantine.”

           The Austrian government reported that it had identified 438 confirmed or suspected cases of the South African variant. The biggest concern about this variant is that it results in reducing the efficiency of the vaccine. Local Austrian authorities in Tyrol deployed 1,200 soldiers to protect the border by only letting people through if they have a recent negati

ve test. It is worth noting, however, that this rule does not apply to children and people working in freight traffic.

           Czech Health Minister, Jan Blatny, talked about the new rule, saying, “Any easing of restrictions will indefinitely result in the virus spreading. It does not matter if a worker or child has the virus, it will still spread and affect people the same way.”

Unfortunately, governments have said people cannot afford to stop business travel and continue quarantine due to financial reasons.