Covid outlook "worrisome and uncertain", Health Min. says

The increasing number of coronavirus infections and hospitalizations make the short-term outlook "worrisome and uncertain", departing Minister Hugo de Jonge of Public Health said on Tuesday when entering a cabinet meeting on the coronavirus situation ahead of Tuesday evening's press conference, ANP reports.

The room to relax lockdown measures is "extremely limited", because infection numbers "are not going in the right direction", De Jonge said. Relaxations are only possible in the long term. "In the short term, we will really have to deal with some pretty tough measures to ensure that we keep the virus under control."

Sources told Dutch media that the government will extend the lockdown, and that it is unlikely that measures will be relaxed.

De Jonge referred to the government's goal to get two thirds of the Dutch population fully vaccinated by early July, and the remaining third on their first dose at least. But when the "turning point" will be where infections start falling and measures can be relaxed, is impossible to say, according to the departing Minster.