Skip to main content
Home

Main navigation

  • Top stories
  • Health
  • Crime
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Tech
  • Culture
  • Sports
  • Weird
  • 1-1-2
Image
Prime Minister Mark Rutte, with Health Ministers Tamara van Ark and Hugo de Jonge behind him, during a parliamentary debate on the Covid-19 vaccination policy, 5 January 2021
Prime Minister Mark Rutte, with Health Ministers Tamara van Ark and Hugo de Jonge behind him, during a parliamentary debate on the Covid-19 vaccination policy, 5 January 2021 - Credit: Tweede Kamer / Tweede Kamer
Health
Politics
Coronavirus
Covid-19
RIVM
Mark Rutte
Ernst Kuipers
hard lockdown
schools closed
Wednesday, 6 January 2021 - 20:54
Share this:
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • linkedin
  • whatsapp
  • reddit

Cabinet considering lockdown extension through Feb. 2

Dutch officials are looking into the possibility of extending the lockdown for two weeks past the initial end date of January 19, NOS reported based on interviews with anonymous government sources. The Cabinet is concerned that the number of daily new coronavirus infections is still too high after three weeks of a hard lockdown, which also covered the Christmas and New Year’s holidays.

The seven-day rolling average of new infections has fallen for 15 days straight to 7,747. That was still slightly higher than on December 12, when Cabinet ministers met with advisors to discuss imposing the lockdown on society.

Those social restrictions included closing all schools and moving education online. Prime Minister Mark Rutte said on Tuesday that reopening the schools was a top priority, but refused to make any promises.

He also said he was not optimistic that the lockdown would be lifted, measures which include a strict daily limit on the number of guests allowed inside a home and an order that all non-essential stores remain shut. Bars and restaurants have also been closed since the middle of October.

Acute care leader Ernst Kuipers said on Wednesday that without a reduction in the number of infections there would be no justification to ending the lockdown. Kuipers and other members of the Outbreak Management Team will provide advice to the Cabinet on the issue.

The Cabinet was expected to make a formal announcement on the issue next week.

Follow us:

Latest stories

  • Air France-KLM buys 19.9% shares in struggling competitor SAS
  • Most Dutch businesses not providing breastfeeding employees adequate space to pump
  • Teze keeps PSV in the race with a late equalizer against Sevilla
  • Speaking (in Dutch) about bikes & the weather: The Delft Method at NedLes
  • Louis van Gaal returns to Ajax as board advisor
  • Dutch suspect among eight held in €157 million cocaine bust in Ireland

Top stories

  • Air France-KLM buys 19.9% shares in struggling competitor SAS
  • One killed, two missing after boat capsizes in Noord-Brabant
  • Teen parents convicted of leaving baby to die in underground Amsterdam dumpster
  • Amsterdam restaurant crowned best restaurant in the world by Tripadvisor
  • Rwandan man arrested in Netherlands for acts of genocide in 1994
  • Municipalities want to cut financial support to many Ukrainian refugees

© 2012-2023, NL Times, All rights reserved.

Footer menu

  • Privacy
  • Contact
  • Partner content