Give NL residents perspective on how lockdown will end, mayors ask

The government needs to give the Dutch population perspective on how the country will get out of the current coronavirus lockdown, the mayors on the Security Council asked on Monday.

The Security Council, which consists of the mayors that head the country's 25 security regions, supports extending the lockdown. But perspective is needed to maintain support for the measures in place to curb the spread of the virus, Hubert Bruls, mayor of Nijmegen and chairman of the Security Council, said after the council's weekly meeting, NU.nl reports.

The hard lockdown has been in place for almost four weeks, and the expectation is that it will be extended in a press conference by Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Health Minister Hugo de Jonge on Tuesday. The mayors noticed that the country is struggling to keep it up, Bruls said. "Not only with the business community and the catering industry, but also people sitting at home. You cannot keep throwing measure on measure endlessly."

According to Bruls, this past weekend showed how fed up people are with the lockdown. "The sun only needs to shine for a bit and they go outside. They are fed up and that is very understandable. If you want to maintain support, you have to offer perspective."

The Security Council is not asking the government to relax measures immediately, Bruls stressed. "There is no choice but to continue with the measures now," he said. "But the cabinet must work on scenarios for how we will gradually release the measures."