Attendance at Vienna's New Year concert capped due to Omicron

The number of people allowed to attend Vienna's traditional New Year's concert has been capped at 1,000 to prevent the spread of the new Omicron strain of Covid-19.

The move leaves 700 people holding tickets but unable to attend the concert. They will be given reserved seats for the next concert on January 1, 2023, the Vienna Philharmonic said on Monday.

The Austrian government announced new regulations for events last week that entered into force on Monday to curtail the new and more transmissible variant of the coronavirus.

At any event involving an audience of more than 1,000 people, all attendees must have had two vaccinations against the virus, plus a booster shot, and also show a negative PCR test.

The organizers decided to reduce the scale of the concert in order to allow music lovers to attend even if they had not had a third vaccination, permissible with a smaller audience.

The Viennese waltzes, polkas and marches conducted by Daniel Barenboim are to be broadcast in more than 90 countries.