Austria is planning "mass testing" for coronavirus to help chart a way out of the second lockdown coming into force from Tuesday, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said on Sunday.

Kurz said mass testing could help the country re-open in December and he said that it could be done in a similar scale as in neighboring Slovakia, where a large number of asymptomatic cases, discovered through a mass testing program, are being quarantined.

"We want to deploy mass tests at the end of the lockdown in order to enable a safe re-opening in schools and other areas," Kurz said, adding that in the first instance testing would be focused on groups such as teachers.

On Saturday Kurz announced Austria was toughening its anti-coronavirus restrictions, shutting schools and shops from Tuesday until December 6 to get spiraling numbers of infections under control. He has urged Austrians to avoid all social contacts.