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The Netherlands will extend restrictions due to COVID-19 during the Christmas holidays, which means early school closures, Prime Minister Mark Rutte said today.
The rapid spread of the omicron-type coronavirus, which accounts for about one percent of new infections in the country, “is a cause for concern and caution,” Rutte said in a statement to Dutch television, Reuters reports.
Primary schools will be closed a week ago on the recommendation of experts, as the prevalence of infections is still higher in children, in order to prevent them from infecting larger family members during Christmas and thus further burden hospitals that are struggling with an increasing number. of patients.
As Health Minister Hugo de Jonge announced, an additional vaccine to boost immunity against the omicron variant will be offered to all Dutch adults before the end of January. Other measures, which have been in force since November 28 and include the closure of restaurants, bars, non-priority shops and other public facilities from 17:00 to 05:00 in the morning, the ban on attending sports events and tips to work from home as much as possible, were extended until January 14th.
Infections in a country of 17.5 million have dropped from record levels since the introduction of the night curfew, but are still relatively high, at about 85 per 100,000 inhabitants, according to Reuters. The number of hospitalized COVID patients remained at its highest level this year and hospitals across the country were ordered to postpone all non-urgent surgeries for free beds in intensive care units.
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