NETHERLANDS SHUT
FIVE-WEEK LOCKDOWN AS COVID RATES RISE AHEAD OF EUROPE VACCINE DECISION
THE Netherlands is ‘closing’, prime minister Mark Rutte declared as he ordered a new five-week lockdown.
Schools, non-essential shops and gyms must shut until at least January 19, following a sharp rise in cases.
Neighbouring Germany has taken similar measures as countries across the continent fight to curb infections.
There was a chink of light yesterday when the European Medicines Agency said it hopes to reach a decision on the Pfizer vaccine on December 21, a week earlier than expected.
If the agency declares it safe, the treatment already in use in Britain could start to be rolled out across
Europe within days. But Mr Rutte said immediate action was needed before treatments become available.
Covid has killed 10,000 in the nation of 17million. And daily new infections have risen from 29.22 per 100,000 on November 29 to 47.47 on Sunday.
That compares favourably with the 184 per 100,000 in England.
But as anti-lockdown protesters blew whistles outside his office, Mr Rutte told the nation in a TV address: ‘We have to bite through this very sour apple before things get better. The reality is that this is is not an innocent flu as some people – like the demonstrators outside – think, but a virus that can hit everybody hard.’
Businesses such as hair salons must shut under the rules, along with museums and theatres.
The government also urged people to receive a maximum of two guests over the age of 13 per day – rising to three for December 24-26.
Meanwhile, the Italian prime minister Giuseppe Conte said he would shortly be announcing new Christmas lockdown rules. He told
La Stampa paper: ‘We must avert at all costs a third wave.’
In France, the prime minister Jean Castex has said parents worried about the welfare of vulnerable relatives can take children out of school from tomorrow. France is under curfew from 8pm to 6am, but this will be lifted on Christmas Eve. Germany is set to begin its national lockdown today, with all schools and nonessential shops shut until January 10. In Spain, the government hopes to roll out the Pfizer vaccine by the year’s end.