This afternoon at 2 p.m. there was another press conference in which Prime Minister Mark Rutte addressed the country. The government is very concerned about the British variant of the corona virus that has emerged and believes that additional measures are needed to get this and other new variants of the virus under control.
There was talk of it before and now it seems to be getting closer and closer:the introduction of a curfew. Once the House of Representatives has approved the curfew, it will be introduced a few days later. It would be a ban on going outside between 8.30 pm and 4.30 am, unless you fall under one of the exceptions that are exempt for medical or work-related reasons.
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Not only is the cabinet considering a curfew, the advice for visitors is also being tightened up:do not receive more than 1 person aged 13 or older per day at home and visit a place no more than once a day.
Travel restrictions are also being tightened:the urgent advice is to stay in the Netherlands and not to travel until 31 March. From Saturday 23 January at 00:01 a flight ban will apply to countries with a high risk of contamination and incoming travelers must be able to demonstrate that they have been tested negative, both at the latest 72 hours before arrival by means of a PCR test and a rapid test that contains a maximum of 4 hours old before boarding. They also have to quarantine for 10 days after arrival in the Netherlands.
So it is not yet certain whether and when the curfew will come into effect, we will have to wait and see. It is clear that the cabinet is very concerned about the new variants of the virus that have emerged and that these additional measures are necessary. The measures will in any case apply until 9 February 2021.
