In the Netherlands, bars, restaurants and essential shops will have to close at 8:00 p.m., other places at 6:00 p.m., from Saturday at 6:00 p.m. and for three weeks.
Faced with the record number of daily contaminations in the Netherlands, Prime Minister Mark Rutte announced “severe” health restrictions this Friday at a press conference. They will begin this Saturday, for three weeks.
The latter described at a press conference in The Hague the new series of measures “big blow of a few weeks, because the virus is everywhere, all over the country, in all sectors and at all ages”.
Bars, restaurants and essential businesses will have to close at 8 p.m., other places, such as clothing stores or hairdressers, at 6 p.m., starting this Saturday. No more than four people will be allowed in each household.
Public protests are cut and football matches will be played behind closed doors, including the World Cup qualifier between the Netherlands and Norway next week. However, schools remain open and outings outside the home authorized.
The government is also preparing to restrict access to dining and leisure facilities after the three-week period only to people vaccinated or cured of Covid, and no longer to those people with a negative test.
Protests against the mask
The RIVM, the Dutch body responsible for public health, said 16,364 new cases had been reported on Thursday, breaking the record since the start of the pandemic, established on December 20, 2020, with 12,997 cases.
Several thousand people demonstrated in The Hague last weekend after the return in particular of the wearing of the compulsory mask in closed public places such as shops.
Riots had taken place in January after the first curfew was put in place in the Netherlands since World War II to cope with a spike in the number of cases after Christmas.
Recall campaign in December
The country of 17 million people has recorded 2.2 million cases and 18,612 deaths since the start of the pandemic. Hospitals have warned they will not be able to overwinter under current conditions.
The peak of Covid comes despite the fact that 82% of Dutch people over the age of 12 have been fully vaccinated. Unvaccinated people account for most intensive care cases (69%) and hospital admissions (55%), but declining vaccine effectiveness, especially in the elderly, was also implicated.
The Dutch government has announced that the vaccine booster campaign will start in December.