Heavy snow and strong winds have prompted the Netherlands to issue its first “red code” weather alert across the country in nine years.
Trains from neighboring Germany, where conditions are also treacherous, have been suspended.
All Dutch coronavirus Test facilities were closed on Sunday, while train services were kept to a minimum, supermarket deliveries canceled and professional football games discarded.
A runner faces conditions in a snowy Berlin
A child lying in the snow in Amsterdam
The Amsterdam city council decided to close all canal locks in the hope that ice skating would be possible by the end of the week.
The government asked people to stay home, as the KNMI meteorological institute warned of up to 20 centimeters of snow and icy winds with gusts of up to 56 miles per hour (90km / h).
It is feared that mounds of snow may form on the roads, further reducing visibility.
Abroad COVID-19 lockdown is already in place, where non-essential stores, restaurants, bars and other audiences
places have been closed for weeks.
A high-speed ICE train at the main station in Dortmund, Germany
People on a bridge near Charlottenburg castle in Berlin
In Germany, railway operator Deutsche Bahn suspended services to the Netherlands – and some domestic long-distance routes – while meteorologists warned of “an extremely heavy snowstorm”.
In Berlin and Hanover, temperatures dropped to -7 degrees Celsius (19F).
Freezing conditions are on a strip from Muenster in the west to Saxony in the east, with an area south of Hanover being the most affected.