Dutch virus curfew extended into March

Officials in the Netherlands said Monday that the country’s nightly curfew would be extended to March in order to combat the continued spread of COVID-19.

The Associated Press reported that Dutch Justice Minister Ferd Grapperhaus made the announcement, citing warnings from the country’s top health officials about the spread of a more infectious strain of COVID-19 thought to have originated in the U.K. 

Originally instituted in late January, the 9 p.m. to 4:30 a.m. curfew was due to expire on Wednesday. 

The country’s prime minister, Mark Rutte, moved last week to extend most of the country’s lockdown measures until March, and said at the time that the curfew and other measures would be reviewed this week.

“All calculations point to a third wave that seems inevitably to be bearing down on us, the main cause of which is the British variant,” Rutte said at the time.  

The Dutch government also said last week that the “number of new positive cases per day is declining and the pressure on hospitals is gradually easing.”

“But new variants of the virus are gaining ground quickly in the Netherlands. This is cause for concern because these new variants are more infectious and can cause a new wave of infections,” it added.

Concern over the British variant of COVID-19 comes as a second strain from South Africa is also causing unease across Europe, with officials warning that AstraZeneca’s vaccine may be less effective against that variant.

The rate of new cases in the Netherlands has been falling since December and still appears to be decreasing, according to data gathered by Johns Hopkins University.