Netherlands’ PM excludes a total national lockdown
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Government measures prompted by the coronavirus pandemic are “unprecedented in peacetime,” says Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte Monday, but he vowed not to impose a national lockdown on the Netherlands.
“Many people have the feeling that we are on a roller coaster, which is going to ride faster and faster … The measures are unprecedented for countries in peacetime,” Rutte said in a rare televised address to the nation.
Rutte said that imposing a complete lockdown “may seem attractive on the face of it, but experts point out that it wouldn’t be a matter of days or weeks. In that scenario, we would actually have to shut down our country for a year, or even longer, with all the consequences that follow.”
However, the country’s government announced that schools and daycare centres in the Netherlands are to be shut from Monday until at least April 6 in an effort to prevent the spread of coronavirus, ministers decided on Sunday after a crisis meeting with health experts and education officials. In addition, cafes, restaurants, sex clubs, cannabis cafes, saunas and sports clubs will all close their doors at 6pm on Sunday for three weeks, health minister Bruno Bruins said in a televised news conference. The move is a u-turn on Friday’s position, when the government said that schools and daycare centres should remain open so that essential workers can continue to do their jobs.
