BERLIN, Jan 6 — Austria will impose new Covid-19 measures from Saturday including shortening quarantine times to five days, requiring people to wear masks outdoors when in crowds, and limiting to six months the validity of vaccine certificates, officials said.

The government also announced stepped-up inspections to ensure shops are limiting access to vaccinated and recovered people.

"We need to do everything we can possibly do together to prevent another lockdown,” Chancellor Karl Nehammer told a news conference today after the federal government met provincial leaders and pandemic task force experts.

Austria reported 8,263 new Covid-19 cases on Thursday, nearly three times above the daily average number of infections last week as the country fights a wave of infections with the new Omicron coronavirus variant. — Reuters