Austria says reopening Italian border now would be irresponsible
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Reopening Austria’s border with Italy now would be “irresponsible in light of the epidemiological data from Italy”, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz told Austrian daily Tiroler Tageszeitung on Wednesday.
He said he was satisfied that Austrian infection rates are low despite a series of reopenings.
Kurz said “the prompt and tough measures bore fruit, like the elevated discipline of the population”.
He said a decision on reopening borders by the end of the summer would depend on infection rates in Italy.
Meanwhile, Regional Affairs Minister Francesco Boccia said Wednesday that the government had won the first battle against the coronavirus in making Italy safe again.”We have won the first battle with the virus and have returned the country to safety,” Boccia told a House committee. “The contagion rate R has gone down from 3.5-4 to 0.5.We are starting again from this patrimony” he added.
Boccia said monitoring of the epidemic was “working very well”.
He said that in phase two of the emergency, the regions would be responsible for “what and how to reopen”.
He said that inter-regional travel would be possible again from June 3, “but not between high-risk regions”.
