Austria is planning “mass testing” for coronavirus
to help a chart a way out of the second lockdown coming into force next week,
Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said on Sunday.

Referring to a controversial mass testing programme in
neighbouring Slovakia, Kurz told public broadcaster ORF that “we have
decided here in Austria… to take a similar step”.

In Slovakia, two-thirds of the population were tested two
weeks ago, with just over one percent testing positive.

On Saturday Kurz announced Austria was toughening its
anti-coronavirus restrictions, shutting schools and shops from Tuesday until
December 6 to get spiralling numbers of infections under control and urging
Austrians to avoid all social contacts.

On Sunday Kurz said mass testing could help the country
re-open in December, but it was not clear if the testing programme would be on
the same scale as in Slovakia.

“We want to deploy mass tests at the end of the
lockdown in order to enable a safe re-opening in schools and other areas,”
Kurz said, adding that in the first instance testing would be focused on groups
such as teachers.

He appeared to suggest the programme could then be widened
to other groups in the population to make Christmas celebrations as safe as
possible.

“We know it’s something close to many people’s hearts
to be able to celebrate in a half decent way with at least a small number of
their loved ones,” Kurz said.

He said that more details of the programme would be given
next week.

The programme in Slovakia has involved the use of antigen
tests.

They give far quicker results than PCR tests, which involve
nasal swabs that have to be sent to a laboratory, but they are less reliable.

Kurz said that the advent of antigen tests meant “we
finally have the possibility of buying millions of tests”, although he
admitted that rolling out a large testing programme would be a “logistical
challenge”.

Kurz himself has faced criticism for failing to take tougher
action earlier in the autumn when coronavirus infections began to spike.

A partial lockdown was imposed two weeks ago in which
non-essential shops were allowed to stay open but this failed to halt the
spread of the virus.

The nation of 8.8 million escaped relatively lightly during
the first wave of the pandemic but the health system has started to come under
strain in the second wave.

Sunday’s new infection figure of 5,665 was lower than in
recent days, with the number of active infections actually decreasing for the
first time since October 2.

But the number of patients in intensive care has gone up by
30 per cent in a week and is now at almost 600.

A total of 1,829 people have died after contracting the
virus in Austria.