Cafes, bars and restaurants in the Netherlands are to be shut for at least four weeks from Wednesday 10pm in an effort to get coronavirus under control, prime minister Mark Rutte told reporters on Tuesday evening.
The measures, in total, amount to a partial lockdown, Rutte said. ‘The number of social contacts and movements we make has to be cut drastically,’ he said. ‘It is the only way. We have to be tough on ourselves and on our behaviour.’
The number of newly notified positive coronavirus tests in the Netherlands soared by a further 7,393 cases in the 24 hours to Tuesday 10am and there were nearly 44,000 newly registered cases of coronavirus in the past week.
‘Too many people are not keeping to the rules,’ Rutte said.
‘Then we have no choice but to take tougher measures to make sure that we can no longer meet each other.’
The government also plans to make face masks compulsory in all indoor public spaces, but that still needs to be worked out legally. ‘We want to prevent discussion about the measures,’ Rutte said. ‘We want people to stick to them.’
This is also why a ban on the sale of alcohol after 8pm is being introduced, Rutte said. ‘People were asking why cafes had to close at 10pm while they could still buy alcohol. So now we have dealt with that,’ he said.
The measures, described by Rutte as a hammer, would be assessed after two weeks to see if any progress is being made. ‘But they will last at least four weeks and if that does not help, then we will go into a total lockdown.’
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The Netherlands goes into partial lockdown; face masks will be compulsory - DutchNews.nl
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