Dutch face partial lockdown as COVID-19 cases continue to soar
By Bart H. Meijer
AMSTERDAM, Nov 12 (Reuters) - Bars and restaurants in the Netherlands will close early and sporting events will be held without spectators under a three-week, partial lockdown expected to be announced on Friday evening.
The measures are meant to contain a rapid surge in COVID-19 cases that is straining hospitals across the country.
New infections topped 16,000 for the second day in a row on Friday, beating the previous record of just under 13,000 confirmed cases in a day set in December last year.
Dutch broadcaster NOS said the first lockdown measurs in Western Europe since the summer will go into effect on Saturday evening.
People will be urged to work from home where possible, and no spectators will be allowed at sporting events in the coming weeks, including the Dutch team's World Cup qualifier against Norway on Tuesday.
Schools, theatres and cinemas would remain open.
Caretaker Prime Minister Mark Rutte's cabinet is set to take a final decision at a cabinet meeting on Friday, and will announce the new measures at a televised news conference scheduled for 1800 GMT.
It was unclear whether the government would adopt a politically sensitive recommendation by its leading pandemic advisory panel to limit access to public places to people who have been fully vaccinated or have had COVID-19 after the lockdown period.
A new lockdown would mean a drastic turn in policy for the Dutch government, which until last month thought that a relatively high vaccination rate would allow it to further ease measures towards the end of the year.
But it is not alone in considering strict measures as infections spike to record levels. Austria on Thursday said it was days away https://www.reuters.com/article/health-coronavirus-austria/austrian-lockdown-for-the-unvaccinated-is-days-away-chancellor-says-idINL1N2S218H from placing millions of unvaccinated people in lockdown.
Around 85% of the adult Dutch population has been fully vaccinated. Booster shots have so far only been provided to a small group of people with weak immune systems, and will be offered to people aged 80 years and older in December.
(Reporting by Bart Meijer and Anthony Deutsch; Editing by Lincoln Feast, Edmund Blair and Giles Elgood)
