Bad news for the industry, once again the Dutch government has chosen to temporarily lock down the country. Today, the government announced a short, mild lockdown of three weeks. The hospitality industry must close at 8 p.m. starting tomorrow, non-essential stores at 6 p.m, and a maximum of four people will be allowed to visit their homes. Everyone is urged to return to work at home.
Earlier this week, the Outbreak Management Team (OMT) recommended to the cabinet a two-week partial lockdown. Yet the government has decided to make this lockdown three weeks. Saturday at 8 p.m. the measures will take effect. The cabinet arrived at these measures after hours of consultation at the Catshuis Thursday night.
These will be the most important measures
– Hospitality venues and stores closed at 7 p.m.
– No more than four people at home
– Work at home as much as possible
– QR code required for visits to zoos and amusement parks
– No supporters at sporting events
With the measures, the government wants to flatten the spike of infections and hospitalizations. It is likely to be a restriction of a few weeks. In the meantime, longer-term measures are being prepared, such as requiring coronapas for non-essential stores, the workplace and higher education. The restriction of the coronapas for some sectors for those who have been vaccinated and cured is also in the works. The Outbreak Management Team (OMT) expects this so-called 2G policy to have a major impact, as it is mainly unvaccinated corona patients that burden hospitals.
EVEN MORE MEASURES…
Meanwhile, for the longer term, the cabinet wants to legislate and mandate new measures, such as keeping a meter and a half distance. Preparing new legislation and dealing with it in the Lower and Upper Houses of Parliament takes about a week to two weeks. The discussion in the cabinet about abolishing the possibility of getting a valid QR code with a negative test is not yet completed. There are objections to this so-called 2G policy, more may become known in the course of today.
Yesterday it was already known that the outgoing cabinet had reached an outline agreement on the new corona measures. With these measures, the government wants to quickly reduce infections in the short term. For the longer term there will be measures to keep the number of infections manageable, insiders say.
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