Thread by @Reuters

Austria will become the first country in western Europe to reimpose a full COVID-19 lockdown as neighboring Germany warned it may follow suit, sending shivers through financial markets worried about the economic fallout reut.rs/3HFHQ0r 1/5

A fourth wave of infections has plunged Germany, Europe's largest economy, into a national emergency, Health Minister Jens Spahn said. He urged people to reduce their social contacts, warning that vaccinations alone would not reduce case numbers 2/5

Austria said it would require the whole population to be vaccinated as of February. Roughly two-thirds of Austria's population is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, one of the lowest rates in western Europe 3/5

‘We have not succeeded in convincing enough people to get vaccinated,’ Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg told a news conference, saying the lockdown would start on Monday and the requirement to be vaccinated on Feb. 1 4/5

Asked if Germany could rule out an Austrian-style full lockdown, Spahn said: ‘We are now in a situation - even if this produces a news alert - where we can't rule anything out. ‘We are in a national emergency,’ he told a news conference.

Full story: reut.rs/3HFHQ0r 5/5