Netherlands: Prime Minister announces "confinement" during Christmas holidays
The streets of Amsterdarm begin to empty, Saturday, December 18, a few hours before the start of a new confinement.
AP - Peter Dejong
Text by: RFI Follow
2 min
In an attempt to stop the fifth wave of Covid-19 and the strong progression of the Omicron variant, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte announced this Saturday, December 18, a national confinement during the Christmas and end-of-year holiday period.
It is to come into force on Sunday.
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“
I'm here tonight in a dark mood.
To sum it up in one sentence, the Netherlands will return to containment from tomorrow.
These were the words of Mark Rutte on Saturday at a televised press conference.
The
Covid-19 pandemic
is undermining many European countries at the end of the year, and the Netherlands must take radical measures.
“
It's inevitable with the fifth wave and
with [the variant] Omicron spreading
even faster than we had feared.
We must intervene now as a precaution
”, explained the head of the Dutch government.
All non-essential stores, restaurants, bars, cinemas, museums and theaters are to close from Sunday until January 14.
Schools, for their part, must keep their doors closed until at least January 9.
The number of guests that people are allowed to have in their homes is reduced from four to two, except for Christmas Day, December 25.
De opmars van de omikronvariant leidt nog dit jaar tot een stijging van het aantal coronapatiënten in de ziekenhuizen.
Dat is sneller dan verwacht.
Daarom gaat Nederland van 19 december t / m in ieder geval 14 januari in lockdown.https: //t.co/7pWX06aoeG#AlleenSamen pic.twitter.com/3fFmSZp1X8
- Mark Rutte (@MinPres) December 18, 2021
Omicron raises fears of a very difficult situation in hospitals
The Prime Minister's announcement comes just after an emergency government meeting and four days after further restrictions by authorities, including a week-long Christmas break in primary schools.
Jaap van Dissel, the head of the Dutch health crisis management team, said during a press conference held by Mark Rutte that the Omicron variant will overtake the Delta variant to become dominant in the Netherlands by the end of the year. end of the year.
"
The advance of the Omicron variant will lead to an increase in the number of coronavirus patients in hospitals,
" the Prime Minister confirmed on social networks.
Even before the announcement of this confinement, long queues had formed in front of the stores during the day on Saturday.
Many Dutch people were doing their Christmas shopping as reports have already started to circulate about new restrictions.
The health measures imposed by the Dutch government are increasingly unpopular.
For several nights in November,
riots broke out
in cities like Rotterdam and The Hague.
In the Netherlands, almost 86% of adults are vaccinated.
Since the start of the pandemic, more than 20,800 people have died from Covid-19 in this country, including nearly 1,500 in the past 28 days, according to figures from researchers at Johns Hopkins University.
(With AFP)
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