NL still has some tough months ahead, Health Min. says about pandemic

"All in all, we still have some tough months ahead of us," Minister Hugo de Jonge of Public Health said to broadcaster NOS before a crisis management meeting on the coronavirus pandemic on Tuesday.

The meeting included most of the Ministers directly involved in dealing with the coronavirus pandemic, Security Council chairman Hubert Bruls, and Jaap van Dissel of public health institute RIVM, among others. They discussed the measures in place against the coronavirus, and further measures that need to be taken, ahead of Prime Minister Mark Rutte's press conference later on Tuesday.

The implementation of a curfew was also on the agenda, Minister De Jonge said, though it is unlikely that it will be announced tonight. "All options are on the table, because we are dealing with a very serious virus," he said.

The Prime Minister is expected to announce that the current hard lockdown will be extended by at least two weeks. There is a possibility that primary schools may be allowed to reopen sooner, by January 25 according to sources, but the government is still awaiting the results of a study into how the highly contagious B117 strain of the virus affects young children.