Lockdown measures tightened in response to concerns about new variants of virus
News item | 20-01-2021 | 19:36
The government
is gravely concerned about the UK variant of coronavirus, which is even
more infectious than the virus we are familiar with in the Netherlands.
There are also other variants of the virus that are sparking concern.
New measures are needed in order to get these new variants under
control. To that end, the government plans to introduce a curfew within a
few days once the measure has been approved by parliament. The
government is also issuing stricter advice on visitor numbers: receive
no more than one visitor aged 13 or older per day, and make no more than
one visit to another household per day. Further restrictions will also
be introduced to limit international travel.
The aim of the new measures is to reduce the current infection rate,
delay the spread of the original and new coronavirus variants and
prevent the new variants’ entry into the Netherlands as much as
possible. This will enable us to prevent these variants from gaining the
upper hand for as long as possible. And that will help ensure that
hospitals have sufficient room for COVID-19 patients in the months
ahead, and that regular medical procedures can continue as planned
wherever possible. We don’t want to look back a few weeks from now and
realise that we did not do enough.
Curfew
The government plans to introduce a curfew across the Netherlands
within a few days of obtaining parliamentary approval of the measure.
This will mean that everyone must stay inside between 20.30 and 04.30.
The aim of the curfew is to slow the infection rate by preventing people
from visiting each other and gathering in groups. While the curfew is
in force people will not be allowed outside without a valid reason. If
you need to go out at this time, you may do so only in the following
circumstances:
- in the event of an emergency;
- you need urgent medical assistance, your pet needs urgent veterinary assistance or someone needs your urgent assistance;
- your employer requires you to leave your home for your work;
- you are travelling abroad or returning to the Netherlands;
- you are going to or returning from a funeral and can prove this;
- you are travelling in connection with a summons issued by a court
or public prosecutor, or in connection with a court hearing in
objection, judicial review or appeal proceedings, and you can prove
this;
- you are walking a dog on a lead. You must do this on your own.
If it is necessary for you to go outside during the curfew, you must
take a ‘curfew declaration’ with you. If you have to go out for your
job, you must also be able to produce an employer’s declaration. In
certain cases, no declaration is required. For more information, visit
www.rijksoverheid.nl/avondklok.
The House of Representatives still needs to consider the government’s
proposal to introduce a curfew. Once the House has approved the
measure, more information will be posted on www.government.nl.
A curfew is a far-reaching measure, but it will help the Netherlands
to further slow the spread of the virus. According to the Outbreak
Management Team (OMT), research conducted abroad has shown that a curfew
can reduce the R number by 8 to 13%. In principle, the curfew will
remain in force until 04.30 on 10 February 2021.
Extra travel restrictions
Every journey a person makes increases the chance of causing more
infections or of bringing new variants of coronavirus into the
Netherlands. For this reason, the government has issued a strict travel
advisory: do not travel abroad and do not book any trips abroad in the
period up to and including 31 March 2021.
The government is introducing extra measures to prevent new variants
of the virus being imported via travellers and to further restrict the
number of travel movements. A ban on flights from the United Kingdom and
a docking ban for ferries from the United Kingdom is in force. A flight
ban is also in force for passenger flights from the following other
countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Cabo Verde, Chile, Colombia,
Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, South Africa,
Suriname, Uruguay and Venezuela. At present the flight ban is expected
to remain in force for one month, or until planned legislation on
mandatory quarantine rules for travellers is in place.
In addition, all passengers travelling to the Netherlands by air or
sea from high-risk areas must be able to produce a negative result of a
rapid COVID-19 test performed shortly before their departure. The test
must not have been performed more than four hours prior to boarding the
aircraft or ship. This requirement is in addition to the existing
mandatory negative test result for a PCR test performed no more than 72
hours before arrival in the Netherlands. These measures also apply to
people travelling to the Caribbean parts of the Netherlands. What is
more, travellers must self-quarantine for 10 days on arrival in the
Netherlands. After five days they can get tested. If the result of this
PCR test is negative they may end their self-quarantine. Since rapid
test facilities are not available near all ports and airports, the
government expects that the double-test requirement will reduce the
amount of travel to the Netherlands. As a result it may be difficult for
some people to get home. Dutch nationals who have a compelling reason
to travel to the Netherlands and cannot produce a negative PCR and rapid
test result in time should contact the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
For travellers from countries outside the EU, a travel ban has been
in force since March 2020. The government has decided to reduce the
number of exemptions from this ban. As a result, business travellers,
students, highly-skilled migrants, professionals from the cultural and
creative sectors and people in long-distance romantic relationships
wishing to travel to the Netherlands for a short period will no longer
be granted entry.
These measures will take effect on Saturday 23 January 2021 at 00.01.
Stay at home, work from home and keep contact with others to a minimum
The aim of the lockdown is to prevent people from coming into contact
with each other wherever possible. Less contact means fewer infections.
Staying at home is the best way to minimise contact with others. Only
go outside to shop for essentials, to get medical care for yourself or
provide it for others or animals, to get some fresh air or to go to work
or school if working or learning remotely is not possible.
Limiting your contacts means not meeting up with others too often.
Keep in touch via telephone or video calls instead. If you do decide to
receive visits, the government’s strict advice is to have no more than
one visitor aged 13 or over per day. You should not visit more than one
other household per day either. These measures will help prevent the
spread of the virus. But, of course, seeing fewer people is hard on
everyone. So look out for any people around you who might need extra
attention, especially those who are ill, lonely or struggling with
mental health issues.
In principle everyone should work from home. Only people whose
presence is essential to operational processes and who cannot do their
work from home can go to their workplace. So, for example, a bus driver
can go to work, but an office worker should work entirely from home. The
current situation is very serious. So employers and staff should review
their existing agreements about coming into work. At the moment, people
should not be going to work to meet with colleagues or clients.
Employers must ensure that any employee who can work from home does so.
Employees who are requested to come into work even though their presence
is not essential, should raise this with their employer.
Self-quarantine requirement
Anyone who has tested positive for coronavirus or has had direct
contact with someone who has tested positive must self-quarantine. This
also applies to people arriving in the Netherlands from high-risk
countries, and to people who are experiencing symptoms and waiting for
their test result. But not everyone is following the rules properly. Now
that we are dealing with new virus variants, this poses an additional
risk of the virus continuing to spread. The government is therefore
looking at how self-quarantining can be made mandatory. Preparations are
under way for registering incoming travellers and contacting people by
phone to check they are self-quarantining. More details will be
announced in due course. More information about the current rules is available on government.nl.
Funerals
On the basis of the OMT’s advice, the government has introduced
further restrictions on the number of people permitted to attend a
funeral. From Monday 25 January 2021, the maximum number of people
permitted will be 50.
Future events
The government also wishes to explore the scope for allowing people
to attend events safely and responsibly in the future. It has therefore
agreed that experiments can be carried out in real-life settings to gain
insight and gather data on how to reduce the risk of infection at
events. This will be done at two football matches, a comedy performance,
a business conference, a concert and several other events to see what
happens when one or more basic measures are relaxed.
Overview of measures
Until at least 9 February 2021 the following measures apply:
- Receive no more than 1 person aged 13 or over at your home per day.
- Visit no more than 1 other household per day.
- Work from home. Only people whose presence is essential to
operational processes and who cannot do their work from home can go to
work.
- Only go outside with members of your household, on your own or with 1 other person.
- A curfew is in force between 20.30 and 04.30. This means you are not permitted to be outside between these times.
- Most locations are closed, including:
- shops (except those selling essentials like food)
- locations where contact-based professions are carried out, such as hairdressers, nail salons and sex establishments.
- theatres, concert halls, cinemas, casinos, etc.
- zoos, amusement parks, etc.
- indoor sports facilities, gyms, swimming pools, saunas, spas etc.
- restaurants and cafes.
- Educational institutions will provide most teaching remotely until
at least 7 February. Daycare and out-of-school care centres will remain
closed during this period.
- Secondary schools can offer practical training, school exams for
pupils in the upper years and lessons for pupils with upcoming final
exams on site.
- Secondary vocational schools (MBO), higher professional education
institutions (HBO) and universities can offer exams and practical
training on site.
- All educational institutions can make exceptions to provide support to vulnerable children or students.
- For children whose parents work in critical sectors,
emergency childcare is available at their primary school, daycare
centre and/or out-of-school care centre. Parents are urged to use
emergency childcare only if they have no other option.
- Only medical professionals and allied health professionals may carry out work that involves close contact with clients or patients.
- Hotels are open, but hotel restaurants are closed and room service is not available.
- Adults can exercise alone or with one other person, and only
outside. Children aged 17 and under may take part in team sports and
play matches against children at the same club, but only outside.
- Use public transport for essential travel only.
- Do not travel abroad and do not book trips abroad until 31 March inclusive. Travel restrictions apply.
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