The “Anti-Christmas Travel Ordinance” has not yet been formally issued by the Austrian authorities, but further details have been communicated. This should come into force on December 19, 2020 and apply up to and including January 10, 2021. From January 11, 2021, they want to return to the currently practiced entry requirements.

The government's measure is clearly aimed at harassing people who want to spend Christmas with their relatives living abroad or who work outside Austria and want to spend time with their families in their Austrian homeland. There is no other explanation for the fact that Interior Minister Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) said that these people would be faced with “great hardship”.

Regardless of the fact that Austria itself currently has a significantly higher seven-day incidence, the government is forced to quarantine all people from areas or countries with an incidence of over 100. This applies to pretty much all countries in Europe. Remarkably, this is currently 311,5 in Austria according to AGES.

There will be exceptions for business travelers, although these have not yet been communicated in detail as the regulation has not yet been published in the Federal Law Gazette. If you are not a business traveler, you have to be in quarantine for ten days and can "free yourself" from the fifth day at the earliest at your own expense. From January 11, 2021, a negative PCR test, which must be presented when entering Austria, should be sufficient. If the country of origin is not assigned the highest travel warning level, then again no diagnosis at all is required.