The Dutch government has proposed a ban on flights and a nationwide expenditure to slow down the spread of the coronavirus.
Prime Minister Mark Rutte on Wednesday announced the proposed measures, which are expected to be discussed by lawmakers on Thursday.
The proposed restrictions include a one-month ban on flights from the UK, South Africa and South America starting on Saturday, and a national night clock between 20:30 and 04:30.
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If issued, the curfew would be the first nationwide curfew since World War II, according to Reuters.
“We are at an important moment for our safety, for our national public health,” Rutte said on Wednesday.
Closed shops in Dam Street and the Royal Palace on Damplein, at the back, are pictured in Amsterdam. (AP Photo / Peter Dejong, File)
His four-party coalition resigned on Friday over a scandal in which thousands of parents were wrongly branded as fraudsters by the country’s tax office. It remains in office until a new coalition is formed after a general election on March 17.
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If parliament approves Rutte’s proposed date, the Netherlands will join other European Union countries that have told people to stay home after dark, including Belgium, France, Italy, Greece and parts of Germany.
“It’s a difficult benchmark,” Rutte said. “No one wants a curfew; no one rejoices.”
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Other restrictions in Rutte’s proposed measures include limiting the number of visitors people may have at their homes to one – from two – and reducing the number of people who may attend funerals to 50, from the previous limit of 100 .
The Dutch government on Wednesday proposed a ban on flights from the United Kingdom, South Africa and South America for one month. (iStock)
The Dutch government also advises residents to avoid traveling until March 31, according to a press release.
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The Netherlands has been in a difficult exclusion for a month and will remain so until at least February 9, but the government says a slow decline in the number of infections and the threat posed by new variants has forced it to act harder.
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The Dutch public health institute announced on Tuesday that new infections had decreased by 21.5% in the past week to 38 776, as the closure that began in mid-December bore fruit. But at the same time, it warned that the new, more transmissible virus variant that led to a sharp increase in infections in the UK and Ireland is expected to make up at least half of all new Dutch COVID-19 cases by mid-February.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.