Netherlands to shut down at night in coronavirus battle
- Bars, restaurants and shops will shut early, despite previous Covid-19 restrictions sparking riots that swept the country
- Infections exceed 20,000 new cases a day, despite adult vaccination take up around 85 per cent
The Netherlands will be “effectively closed” in the evenings with bars, restaurants and shops shutting early to curb a spike in Covid-19 cases, Prime Minister Mark Rutte said on Friday.
Dozens of protesters held a peaceful demonstration in The Hague as Rutte tightened the country’s partial lockdown and hospitals warned they were being overwhelmed.
But fears of a repeat of the riots that swept the country last weekend over the government’s coronavirus restrictions proved, for the time being, unfounded.
“From Sunday, the whole of the Netherlands is effectively closed between 5pm and 5am,” Rutte told a televised press conference.
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“We have to be realistic, the daily figures are still too high,” he added, referring to infection rates at more than 20,000 cases a day, despite an adult vaccination take up of around 85 per cent.