By John Ikani
The Netherlands entered a tough lockdown from Sunday morning to limit a feared COVID-19 surge due to the Omicron variant.
Prime Minister Mark Rutte announced that bars, restaurants, and non-essential stores will close until January 14, while schools and universities are closed until January 9.
Only shops considered essential – such as supermarkets and pharmacies – are exempt from the orders.
The new rules in the Netherlands – the strictest to have been announced over Omicron so far.
“I stand here tonight in a sombre mood. And a lot of people watching will feel that way too,” Mr Rutte told a news conference on Saturday. “To sum it up in one sentence, the Netherlands will go back into lockdown from Sunday.”
Under the new rules, people are being urged to stay at home as much as possible. Strict limits will be placed on the number of people who can meet – a maximum of two guests aged 13 and over will be allowed in people’s homes, and four on 24-26 December and on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.
Events are not permitted other than funerals, weekly markets selling groceries and professional sports matches with no spectators.
All schools will be closed until at least 9 January, while other lockdown measures will remain in place until at least 14 January.
Restaurants can continue to sell takeaway meals, and non-essential shops can offer click and collect services.
A failure to act now would likely lead to “an unmanageable situation in hospitals”, which have already scaled back regular care to make space for COVID-19 patients, Rutte said.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Saturday the Omicron variant is spreading significantly faster than the Delta strain in countries with documented community transmission, with the number of cases doubling in 1.5 to three days.
The highly mutated variant is spreading rapidly in countries with high levels of population immunity, the WHO said, but it is unclear if this is due to the virus’s ability to evade immunity, its inherent increased transmissibility or a combination of both.
