Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz announced that Austria would enter a three-phase lockdown process on Friday evening to "return to normal."
"We have decided that we will spend Christmas as planned, but then tighten the measures again," said Kurz.
The goal is to like to achieve a seven-day incidence of fewer than 100 cases per 100,000 residents and then keep the numbers low through mass tests, Kurz said.
As local.at reports, currently, Austria's seven-day incidence is at 205 per 100,000 residents.
Austria relaxed lockdown measures somewhat on December 7, but case numbers and fatalities have remained high.
The measures were "the only possible way to re-open tourism, cultural life, restaurants and cafes during the pandemic and at the same time avoid numbers exploding again," Kurz said.
The first phase will include another coronavirus lockdown - set to come into effect on December 26 - in the hope of reducing infection numbers.
