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, Reuters reports.

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