Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer said on Wednesday that the lockdown for unvaccinated residents will end next Monday (January 31).
Nehammer said the measure, which was introduced in November, was no longer needed because there was no threat of hospital intensive care units being overstretched.
The lockdown will expire one day before a COVID-19 vaccine mandate — the first of its kind in Europe — takes effect in the country.
Officials have said the mandate is necessary because vaccination rates remain too low. So far, 75.4% of the country’s residents have been fully vaccinated.
From mid-March, police will start checking people’s vaccination status during routine checks; people who can’t produce proof of vaccination will be asked to do so in writing and will be fined up to €600 euros if they don’t.