The Hague, Dec 19 : The Dutch government has announced a stricter lockdown out of fear for the rise of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 in the country.
“I stand here with a gloomy mind,” Prime Minister Rutte said at a press conference on Saturday in the Hague.”The Netherlands is going into lockdown again.”
“That is inevitable.Omicron is spreading even faster than we feared.That is the complicated story we have to tell tonight,” Xinhua news agency quoted him as saying.
The new lockdown will take effect from 5 a.m.Sunday morning local time and will remain in effect until January 14, 2022.According to Rutte, a hard lockdown is inevitable “because of the fifth wave that is approaching us with Omicron.”
Only essential shops like supermarkets, medical contact professions and car garages remain open, but all other shops and all education, the catering industry, restaurants, museums, theaters and zoos must close.
Jaap van Dissel, the boss of the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) and member of the Outbreak Management Team (OMT), which advises the government, was present at the press conference to explain his worries, although the infection figures are in decline with 14,742 positive tests from Friday to Saturday.
He expressed the expectation that the Omicron variant of the coronavirus will be dominant in the Netherlands shortly after Christmas.On December 14, Rutte had announced the extension of the current measures, an evening lockdown between 5 p.m.and 5 a.m.local time for non-essential shops, while primary schools had to close one week earlier before the Christmas holidays.Only four days later he concluded that this will not be enough to stop Omicron.int/shs
Netherlands will be locked down due to the ‘fifth Wave with Omicron’
Jaap Van Dissel (the boss of the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment) and a member of the Outbreak Management Team, which advises the government was at the conference to share his concerns, even though the number of infections is declining with 14,742 positive test results from Friday through Saturday.He stated that he expects the Omicron coronavirus to be the dominant variant in the Netherlands within a few days after Christmas.
Rutte announced on December 14 that he had extended the existing measures.
He had ordered an extension to the evening lockdown at 5 p.m.to 5 a.m.(local time) for shops not essential.Primary schools were required by law, however, to be closed one week before Christmas.
He concluded four days later that Omicron would not be stopped by this extension.
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