The Prime Minister of the Netherlands Mark Rutte announced tonight that the primary schools will be closed from next week while the measures taken to stop the spread of the new coronavirus will be extended until January 14, due to the Omicron variant.
Schools will close on December 20, one week before the Christmas holidays.
The rapid spread of Omicron, which accounts for about 1% of new cases in the country, “is a cause for concern” but also “a reason to be cautious,” Rutte told a news conference.
The Prime Minister described as a painful necessity the fact that for the second time, grandparents will not be able to hug their grandchildren under the Christmas tree this year.
“Obviously, this is not the joyful message we have been waiting for in anticipation of Christmas. But this is not surprising. “We can not ignore the alarming indications of Omicron,” he stressed.
For his part, Health Minister Hugo de Jongge said that by the end of January, all adults will be able to get the booster dose of the vaccine to improve the level of immunity.
The other measures in force from November 28 will be extended until January 14: the closure of restaurants, bars, non-essential shops and other public spaces from 5 pm to 5 am the next day, the organization sports without spectators and the urge to work as much as they can from home.
Citizens can not receive more than four guests in their homes.
Infections have dropped from record levels since nightfall, but remain relatively high at around 85 per 100,000 inhabitants. The number of patients across the country is also high and hospitals have postponed non-emergency surgeries for weeks to free up beds in intensive care units.
As infections remain high among young children, experts have advised the government to close schools a week earlier.
A total of 2.9 million infections and 20,214 deaths from Covid-19 have been reported in the Netherlands.
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