On Wednesday, Prime Minister Mark Rutte announced a one-month ban on flights from the U.K., South Africa, and South America beginning Saturday and a nightly nationwide curfew between 8:30 p.m. and 4:30 a.m.
If enacted, the curfew would be the first nationwide curfew since World War II, in accordance with Reuters.
“We’re at a crucial moment for our safety, for our national public health,” Rutte stated Wednesday.
His four-party coalition resigned Friday over a scandal involving 1000’s parents wrongly being labeled fraudsters by the nation’s tax office. It stays in office till a new coalition is formed following a March 17 general election.
If parliament approves Rutte’s proposed curfew, the Netherlands would be a part of different European Union nations that have informed individuals to remain home after dark, together with Belgium, France, Italy, Greece, and parts of Germany.
“It is a tough measure,” Rutte stated. “No one likes restrictions; no person is cheering this.”
Different restrictions included in Rutte’s proposed measures include limiting the number of guests individuals are allowed to have at their homes to one-down from two-and reducing the number of individuals allowed to attend funerals to 50, from the earlier restriction of 100.
The Dutch government also advises residents to keep away from travel till March 31, according to a press release.
The Netherlands has been in a harden lockdown for a month and will stay that way till at least Feb. 9, however, the government says a gradual decrease within the number of infections and the threat posed by new variants have forced it to take tougher action.
The Dutch public health institute said Tuesday that new infections decreased 21.5% over the last week to 38,776 because the lockdown that started in mid-December started to bear fruit. However, at the same time, it warned that the new, extra transmissible virus variant that led to a sharp spike in infections within the U.K. and Ireland is expected to make up at least half of all new Dutch COVID-19 cases by mid-February.
