{"id":36547,"date":"2022-01-25T13:32:09","date_gmt":"2022-01-25T18:32:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/insiderpaper.com\/?p=36547"},"modified":"2022-08-12T18:09:27","modified_gmt":"2022-08-12T22:09:27","slug":"netherlands-to-lift-covid-restrictions-with-bars-cafes-museums-allowed-to-reopen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/insiderpaper.com\/netherlands-to-lift-covid-restrictions-with-bars-cafes-museums-allowed-to-reopen\/","title":{"rendered":"Netherlands bars, cafes, museums to reopen: PM"},"content":{"rendered":"
The Netherlands will this week lift some of Europe’s toughest Covid restrictions with<\/a> bars, restaurants and museums allowed to reopen their doors, Prime Minister Mark Rutte said Tuesday.<\/p>\n Rutte said the move, which takes effect from Wednesday, was in response to “great tensions” with the catering and cultural sectors over a virtual lockdown imposed days before Christmas.<\/p>\n “The Netherlands has missed you,” Rutte told a news conference.<\/p>\n “Today we are taking a big step to further unlock the Netherlands. That feels contradictory while the contamination figures are going through the roof, and we have to be clear that we are taking a risk,” he added.<\/p>\n Anger mounted after Dutch shops, gyms, hairdressers and sex workers were allowed to resume business<\/a> on January 15, but other venues had to stay shut.<\/p>\n Cafes in several cities opened in defiance of the restrictions the weekend before last, while dozens of museums even opened as beauty salons for a day in protest.<\/p>\n Rutte said that the government was “consciously looking for the limits of what is possible, because of the great tensions and cries for help in recent days”.<\/p>\n While new infections are running at around 60,000 a day, fuelled by the Omicron variant, intensive care admissions and deaths have been falling in the Netherlands.<\/p>\n Health Minister Ernst Kuipers warned that it was “not the flu” and the situation remained sensitive, with hospitalisations rising again<\/a> this week after a long period of decline.<\/p>\n But he said relaxing the curbs was important.<\/p>\n “Living for longer with restrictive measures harms our health and our society,” said Kuipers.<\/p>\n Cafes bars and restaurants can open again until 10 pm from Wednesday, so long as patrons have a Covid pass, wear masks when not seated, and capacity is reduced, the government said.<\/p>\n