“I stand here tonight with sadness,” Rutte said, in a televised news conference. “To sum it up in one sentence, a closure will be imposed in the Netherlands from tomorrow.”
“This is inevitable because of the fifth wave that is coming to us with the mutant Omicron,” he added.
Ruti clarified that all non-essential shops, restaurants, bars, cinemas, museums and theaters should be closed from Sunday to January 14, while schools will be closed until January 9 at the earliest.
The number of visitors allowed in a single home will also be reduced from four to two, with the exception of Christmas Day on December 25.
On Friday, Dutch media reported that health experts advising the Dutch government on handling COVID-19 were recommending that the country go into a “strict” lockdown.
Earlier, Health Minister Hugo de Jong told reporters on the sidelines of a cabinet meeting that he had “great concerns” about the situation. The rapid spread of omicron, which appeared shortly after an earlier wave of infections began to recede in Holland.
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