Rijksmuseum first to make face masks mandatory

The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam is making face masks mandatory in the museum from Wednesday. Everyone aged 13 and older who enters the museum, including staff, must wear a mask that covers their nose and mouth, NH Nieuws reports.

The museum will not be super strict in enforcing this rule during the first week, to give everyone a chance to be informed about it, a spokesperson said to the broadcaster.

No further measures will be taken in the building, the spokesperson added. "Visiting is very safe and it is quiet now anyway. Visitor numbers have fallen enormously in the past period: before corona we had 8 thousand to 10 thousand visitors per day, last weekend we had 1,700 in one day."

The government announced stricter measures in the fight against the coronavirus on Monday, including the advice to wear face masks in stores in Amsterdam, The Hague and Rotterdam. The three cities and Eindhoven decided to take it further and urgently advise face masks in all public indoor spaces.