The Dutch government has extended its controversial overnight curfew – which sparked nationwide riots when first imposed in January – in a bid to prevent a third wave of Covid-19, this time driven by more infectious variants of the virus.
The extension was announced on Monday evening with the Netherlands in the grip of Storm Darcy, the first major snow storm in a decade. It has seen temperatures plunge to an eight-year low which police hope will make opponents of the curfew less likely to take to the streets again.
The country is also in the third week of a caretaker government following the fall of Mark Rutte's coalition in a child benefits scandal. It was acting justice minister Ferd Grapperhaus – fined for breaking coronavirus laws at his wedding last summer – who announced the extension to March 3rd.
Fines imposed
The caretaker government’s expert advice, Mr Grapperhaus said, was that the curfew was working, though the benefits had not yet been significant enough.
“We realise how heavily this affects our entire society but an extension is necessary – and if we can end it sooner, we will do that.”
Police say they have so far issued more than 8,000 fines for breaking the curfew, which runs from 9pm-4.30am, the first time such severe restrictions have been imposed since the Nazi occupation during the second World War.
The benefit of the curfew can be seen in the fact that the number of new daily cases fell to 3,963 on Sunday, a drop of 7.1 per cent on the previous 24 hours and of 7.3 per cent on the figure of 4,173 seven days earlier.
Bible belt
Figures since the weekend have been distorted by the closure of many test centres due to bad weather. In line with the fall in new cases, however, the public health institute put the death toll in the week to Tuesday at 408 compared to 448 seven days earlier. The reproduction number was 0.91.
Bible belt towns in the centre of the country – with the largest number of Calvinist Protestants – now dominate the list of locations with the highest rates of infection per head of population, which is why mass testing began there this week to try to establish the sources of the worst outbreaks.
Everyone aged six and over is being offered a test, starting in the area around Bunschoten, which has a population of some 21,000 and four main population centres.
There has been criticism of the government’s failure to close churches, mosques and synagogues. Many families still meet every Sunday, and some Bible belt towns have had several funerals a day during the lockdown.
