Social curbs through holidays due to rising infections – Dutch PM
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AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – Social curbs in the Netherlands will be extended through the end-of-year holidays due to stubbornly high COVID-19 infection rates, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said on Tuesday.
Rutte made the announcement after figures showed that infection rates on a weekly basis rose for the first time since October.
“It’s really not going well – not with the infection rate and not at the hospitals,” Rutte said in a live TV broadcast. “I don’t exclude that I will be back here before Christmas to announce further (lockdown) measures.”
The Netherlands has been in what the government calls a “partial lockdown” since Oct. 13, under which people are advised to work from home and non-essential travel and public gatherings are banned.
Rutte had hoped an improvement in infections would enable an easing of restrictions during Christmas and New Year’s Eve celebrations.
There were 43,103 new infections registered in the week ended Dec. 8, the National Institute for Health RIVM said in its weekly update, up 27% from 33,949 in the week before.
The government decided on Tuesday to extend a limit of three adult visitors per household until Jan. 15, while restaurants and bars will remain closed.
(Reporting by Toby Sterling; editing by Catherine Evans, Philippa Fletcher and Marguerita Choy)
