About 35% support new Covid-19 measures: Survey

The public's approval rating of the new measures went up after the coronavirus press conference Saturday which announced a hard lockdown for the coming four weeks, a survey by Hart van Nederland showed. Before the press conference, 31 percent supported a hard lockdown which increased to 35 percent after the press event.

The survey conducted among around 2,000 people also showed that the public's overall trust in the Cabinet's Covid-19 policy increased from 25 percent to 29 percent.

Director of the RIVM Jaap van Dissel, who joined Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Health Minister Hugo de Jonge for the press conference, explained Saturday evening that the new measures were instated due to rising concerns about the spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant.

"If you don't intervene now, you will be too late," Prime Minister Mark Rutte added.

Health Minister Hugo de Jonge said the hard lockdown would also buy the Cabinet enough time to speed up the Covid-19 booster vaccination campaign.