Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said Monday that his country plans to take steps to begin lifting its coronavirus lockdown next week, Reuters reports.
The state of play: Kurz said the country would begin reopening non-essential shops of less than 400 square meters on April 14, followed by all shops and malls on May 1.
- Schools will stay closed until mid-May with public events banned until June, notes MarketWatch.
- Kurz also said that the government "always has the possibility to hit the emergency brake" should the rate of infections spike as restrictions wind down.
The big picture: Austria has more than 12,000 cases and at least 220 deaths from the virus, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. At least 3,463 people have recovered from the disease.
- The country, which borders Italy, was one of the first in Europe to institute a wide national lockdown on March 16. Kurz's government has also taken steps like making the use of face masks in stores mandatory, per the BBC.
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