VIENNA — Austria will limit private gatherings to six people indoors and 12 outdoors in response to increasing coronavirus infections.

Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said the new restrictions will take effect on Friday. Kurz said after a videoconference with provincial governors on Monday that professional events such as soccer games and operas will only be possible with assigned seats and mask-wearing throughout, and without food and drink being served. There will be a maximum of 1,000 people indoors and 1,500 outdoors.

Kurz acknowledged that new restrictions are unpopular but said they’re necessary. He said the next few months will be challenging “simply because all of us in Austria and Europe are already tired of corona, but it will take months before we can really achieve a breakthrough with a vaccine.”

Austria, a country of some 8.9 million people, has recorded as many as 1,750 new infections per day in recent days — as in many other European countries, seeing the highest numbers since the pandemic began. It has recorded 105.6 new cases per 100,000 residents over the last seven days.