Austria Closes Three Border Crossings With Slovakia, Requires Registration of All Arrivals

Austria’s government has announced that three border crossing points with their neighboring country- Slovakia will be temporarily closed from January 14, due to the Coronavirus pandemic’s rapid upsurge.

According to Slovakia’s Ministry of Interior statement, three of the following border crossing points will temporarily suspend their operations, until further notice:

• Angern an der March – Záhorská Ves – road/company
• Schloss Hof – Devínska Nová Ves – Cyklomost Slobody
• Hainburg a der Donau – Devín – river border crossing on the Danube

“Due to the current unfavourable development of the pandemic situation of COVID-19 in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, Austria tightened controls at its border crossings from January 9 2021. It is only possible to cross the border at official border crossings,” the statement of Slovakia’s Ministry of Interior reads.

In addition, starting from January 15, every person, including citizens and residents of Austria, will be required to register online, before crossing the country’s border, AtoZSerwisPlus.com reports.

However, there will be some exceptions regarding Austria’s latest decision. Commuters, transit, and persons wishing to enter the country for family or special reasons will not need to fill out a form when entering.

The existing ten-days mandatory quarantine rule will continue to remain in place and will not be changed, even though a test can be taken after five days.

Every person who will be obliged to fill a form upon their arrival in Austria will be required to give detailed information such as their date of birth, residential address, email address, and the date of entry and likely date of departure. They must also provide information regarding the countries they have been in during the past ten days.

In case that the address at which persons will be self-isolated differs from their usual residential address, persons will not need to provide this information.

All the data provided by persons who fill a form is kept by authorities in Austria for 28 days and then deleted.

Austria’s government imposed the second lockdown in the country, on November 3, as part of the country’s efforts to stop the further spread of the virus.

The lockdown was set to last until the end of November, while the country’s authorities clarified who can enter Austria amid the second imposed lockdown.

However, the lockdown date has been extended until January 25. Still, the Austrian Health Minister Rudolf Anschober stressed that the COVID-19 lockdown might continue to be prolonged due to the virus’s new variant, identified in some other countries.

He also asserted that Austria was now entering the “most difficult phase of the pandemic.”