The Dutch government has proposed a ban on flights and a curfew across the country to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Mark Rutte announced the proposed measures, which are expected to be debated by lawmakers on Thursday.
The proposed restrictions include a one-month ban on flights from the UK, South Africa and South America from Saturday and a national night curfew between 8:30 pm and 4:30 am.
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If approved, the curfew will be the first nationwide curfew since World War II, according to Reuters.
“We are at a crucial moment for our security, for our national public health,” said Rutte on Wednesday.
The closed shops on Dam Street and the Royal Palace on Dam Square in the back are depicted in Amsterdam. (AP Photo / Peter Dejong, Archive)
His four-party coalition resigned on Friday due to a scandal involving thousands of parents who were mistakenly labeled fraudsters by the country’s tax administration. He remains in office until a new coalition is formed after the March 17 general elections.
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If parliament approves Rutte’s proposed curfew, the Netherlands will join other European Union countries that have advised people to stay home at night, including Belgium, France, Italy, Greece and parts of Germany.
“It is a difficult measure,” said Rutte. “No one wants a curfew; no one is rooting for it.”
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Other restrictions included in the measures proposed by Rutte include limiting the number of visitors that people can receive in their homes to one – from two – and reducing the number of people allowed to attend funerals to 50, from the previous limit of 100.
The Dutch government proposed a one-month ban on flights from the UK, South Africa and South America on Wednesday. (iStock)
The Dutch government also advises residents to avoid travel until March 31, according to a press release.
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The Netherlands has been in a difficult block for a month and will remain so until at least February 9, but the government says a slow reduction in the number of infections and the threat posed by new variants have forced it to take tougher measures.
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The Dutch public health institute announced on Tuesday that new infections decreased by 21.5% last week to 38,776, when the blockade that started in mid-December began to bear fruit. But at the same time, he warned that the new, more communicable virus variant that led to a sharp increase in infections in the UK and Ireland is expected to account for at least half of all new cases of COVID-19 in the Netherlands by mid-February.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.