On Friday, Austria's Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (ÖVP) announced another lockdown for the Alpine republic. You will be able to leave this towards the end by “free testing”. To this end, the government wants to set up a close-knit test infrastructure in cooperation with the federal states and the armed forces. One statement by the politician is surprising, however, because he emphasized that you can also have travel tests carried out there in the future.

“Everyone will have a test station nearby where they can be tested free of charge. Many countries require a negative test result for entry and you can then have yourself tested nearby for free before traveling, ”said Kurz during a press conference. "So if you need one to go on vacation, you can get one quickly and for free."

So far, the Austrian government has always propagated that unnecessary trips abroad should be avoided. There was never a ban on this, but the mutual entry and quarantine regulations for many potential destinations amount to a "de facto ban". Sebastian Kurz's statement that the future test options can also be used free of charge before vacation trips in order to get easier entry into the destination country is therefore a 180-degree U-turn of his previous statements.

There is one catch, however: the government plans to run rapid antigen tests. Although Austria has recognized the results of this test type for entry into the Alpine republic since December 19, 2020, the vast majority of states continue to insist on negative PCR results. As a result, the antigen results are worthless for travelers if the destination country insists on PCR. It should also be mentioned that many countries do not exempt from quarantine even with negative PCR results. These include, for example, Germany and, since December 19, 2020, Austria as well. In this respect, Sebastian Kurz's announcement should be understood more as a “perseverance slogan”.