As noted yesterday, new measures have been introduced in the ongoing fight against the coronavirus in The Netherlands. Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte called it an gedeeltelijke lockdown, or partial lockdown. The goal is to “limit social contacts and movement of people” to stem the tide of reported cases (today there were almost 7,400 new cases, double what it was a few weeks ago!).
The measures will last four weeks and in two weeks (from now) they will be analyzed to see if stricter measures are needed. The measures announced this evening will go into effect from 22:00 tomorrow night.
Some of the measures include:
- Once Dutch law is updated in the near future, face masks will be required in all indoor spaces. The government is currently working on the law that can legally enforce this, so it won’t go into effect officially yet. For now it is is an urgent recommendation, but not a requirement, to wear one.
- Hotel, restaurants and cafés are required to close. Takeout is still allowed, however.
- The sale of alcohol is forbidden after 20:00, including in supermarkets. It is now illegal to drink or have alcohol in your possession outside after 20:00 (fun fact: in normal times, it’s perfectly legal to drink alcohol outside and walk around with it).
- Koopavonden (or shopping nights) are no longer allowed. Generally in The Netherlands shops are open late one day per week (usually until 21:00). The rest of the time they close at 18:00 or 19:00. For The Hague that is Thursday evenings.
- At the latest all stores should be closed by 20:00 every night, with the exception of supermarkets.
- Amateur sport is not allowed. Youth up until 18 can train together and have games against their own team, but not with other teams. Individual sporting for adults is allowed, up to four sporters. Showers, changing areas and eating areas are closed. But (good for at least some of my colleagues) sports schools are still open for exercise.
- You can only meet up with three other people that are not in your household per day. As an example, Rutte cited “block birthday parties” as something that is now forbidden – you can no longer invite three guests between 10:00-11:00, another three guests between 11:00-12:00 and so on.
The existing rules also still apply (1.5 meters distance, work as much as possible from home, etc.). And because there is no way I can repeat all of the measures, here are some helpful links:
Full list of all coronavirus restrictions as of Oct. 13 from nltimes.nl.
Van horeca tot sport: dit zijn vanaf morgenavond de nieuwe maatregelen from nos.nl
Factsheet: Gedeeltelijke lockdown from rijksoverheid.nl
Persconferentie coronavirus 13 oktober in eenvoudige taal from rijksoverheid.nl
Life in the Hague 