Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte extended the Netherlands’ closure measures by a minimum of one month on Tuesday, saying stricter restrictions are needed due to the new COVID-19 variants.
The continued restrictions on closure include a daily evening clock at 9pm and restrictions on occupancy levels in businesses and public spaces, along with closures for venues such as indoor entertainment venues, shops, restaurants, pubs and cafes.
The extensive exclusion, which will continue until at least March 2, comes as concerns about the coronavirus variant first identified in England, which officials say is more transmissible.
Although the Netherlands’ positive COVID-19 rates fell by 20 percent last week, to 28,628 new infections, two-thirds of Dutch cases are attributed to new variants, reports The Associated Press.
“The number of new positive cases per day is decreasing and the pressure on hospitals is gradually decreasing. But new variants of the virus are rapidly gaining ground in the Netherlands. This is worrying because these new variants are more contagious and a new wave of infections,” said the Dutch government in a statement.
Rutte said this week that “all calculations point to a third wave inevitably declining on us, the main cause of which is the British variant of the coronavirus,” the AP reported.
After hearing the new information and recommendations from the country’s health institute, Rutte said the closure measure was “almost in its entirety until March 2”.
The Institute of Public Health considered the decline in new cases due to the strict measures and warned to relax the policy amid the new variants.
As the Netherlands is concerned about the new variant identified in the United Kingdom, the British are concerned about a variant from South Africa. The AP reports that in some communities house-to-house testing is being done to stop its spread.
The Netherlands has been locked up tighter since mid-December and introduced the curfew rule more than a week ago. The country recently saw some clashes between police and protesters against the closure.