Due to a huge increase in the number of new infections, the Netherlands has tightened a number of coronavirus measures again. Clubs and discos will have to close again as of today. For restaurants is at midnight close, as Prime Minister Mark Rutte announced yesterday in The Hague. After only two weeks, this means the temporary end of nightlife.
Festivals and other large events without fixed seating, where no safety distance can be maintained, will also be banned again. “We must slow down the rapid spread of the virus,” the head of government warned. Rutte urged his countrymen to be cautious.
7,000 new infections within 24 hours
Most recently, some 7,000 new infections had been registered in the Netherlands within 24 hours – about seven times as many as in the previous week. In a discotheque in Enschede near the German border alone, 600 people had become infected, mainly young people. Access was only possible with a negative test result. Apparently, however, there were many fakes.
So far, the increase in infections has not led to more patients in hospitals. However, the government is extremely concerned that the country will once again be given risk area status and vacation travel will no longer be possible. The Netherlands had lifted almost all measures as of June 26. This had been widely criticized as too fast and negligent.
In the meantime, the 7-day incidence is around 94 – twice as high as in the previous week. Health authorities blame this on the highly contagious delta variant of the virus. About 40 percent of the Dutch population is now fully vaccinated. Two-thirds have received at least one shot.
— source: ORF.at/agencies/picture: unsplash.com
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