Covid: Dutch set for partial lockdown as infections surge

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte is set to declare Western Europe’s first partial Covid lockdown of the winter, with three weeks of restrictions for shops, sport and catering.

His caretaker government is responding to record infections and rising intensive care cases in hospitals.

Much of Europe is facing a surge in cases, blamed partly on low vaccine take-up in several countries.

One Austrian province plans a lockdown for unvaccinated people from Monday.

Denmark, which had downgraded coronavirus as no longer a “socially critical” disease, has re-instated a Covid pass that was phased out in September. The government wants to push through a law allowing workplaces to require the pass for staff.

• Covid passes set to stay as Europe heads for winter

According to widespread reports in Dutch media, the caretaker government agreed late on Thursday that the three-week partial lockdown would start on Saturday evening:

• Non-essential shops, cafes, restaurants and hotels would have to close at 19:00 (18:00 GMT)
• Professional sport would continue behind closed doors
• That would include the Netherlands’ football World Cup qualifier against Norway on 16 November

A final decision on restrictions for cinemas and theatres still has to be taken, reports say, along with plans for the existing Covid pass to be issued only to those who have been vaccinated or who have recovered from Covid.

The catering industry has reacted angrily to the leaks; a spokesman told public broadcaster NOS the government had “crossed a line”. Last weekend, thousands of protesters marched through The Hague in anger at existing Covid restrictions.

Latest figures on Thursday showed a record 16,364 new Covid cases over 24 hours, up a third on the previous week. Dutch vaccination rates are relatively high, with 82.4% of over-12s having two doses.

The package of measures is due to be confirmed by the prime minister and health minister on Friday evening.

In Austria, vaccine take-up is at 65% and Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg has warned that a national lockdown for the unvaccinated is “probably inevitable”. Upper Austria, which has a population of 1.5 million, needs the green light from the federal government before it brings in a lockdown on Monday.

That could mean people who have not been vaccinated will not be able to leave home, unless for essential reasons such as going to work, buying food or exercise. It is unclear how that would be enforced.

Germany, which has also seen record Covid numbers this week, declared Austria a high-risk area on Friday, so that anyone visiting who has not been vaccinated or has recovered from Covid will have to quarantine for 10 days.

data in detail

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*Deaths per 100,000 people

Filter:
The world
Africa
North America
Latin America & Caribbean
Asia
Europe
Middle East
Oceania

				New Cases 0 10 100 1k 10k **
Russia	242,241	167.8	8,651,561	JAN 2020 NOV 2021
UK	141,805	212.2	9,301,909
Italy	132,391	219.6	4,808,047
France	117,893	175.8	7,217,484
Germany	96,563	116.2	4,792,465
Spain	87,504	185.9	5,025,639
Poland	77,757	204.8	3,104,220
Ukraine	77,130	173.8	3,232,035
Turkey	72,127	86.5	8,233,649
Romania	50,755	262.2	1,706,882
Hungary	31,184	319.2	892,164
Czech Republic	31,053	291.0	1,819,158
Belgium	26,131	227.5	1,414,463
Bulgaria	25,074	359.4	632,762
Netherlands	18,561	107.1	2,201,010
Portugal	18,203	177.3	1,097,557
Greece	16,295	152.1	784,904
Sweden	15,057	146.4	1,177,094
Slovakia	13,229	242.6	518,635
Bosnia and Herzegovina	11,717	355.0	257,401
Austria	11,502	129.6	883,887
Switzerland	11,274	131.5	887,446
Georgia	10,509	282.5	755,046
Serbia	10,405	149.8	1,183,025
Croatia	9,500	233.6	501,327
Moldova	8,099	304.7	345,964
Azerbaijan	7,269	72.5	547,281
North Macedonia	7,232	347.1	206,077
Armenia	6,700	226.5	321,243
Lithuania	6,135	220.1	428,541
Ireland	5,492	111.1	469,386
Slovenia	4,830	231.3	355,979
Belarus	4,745	50.1	613,927
Latvia	3,499	182.9	231,824
Kosovo	2,978	166.0	160,872
Albania	2,955	103.5	189,125
Denmark	2,738	47.1	402,561
Montenegro	2,148	345.3	148,579
Estonia	1,610	121.4	205,096
Finland	1,188	21.5	162,476
Norway	922	17.2	216,855
Luxembourg	849	137.0	82,842
Cyprus	577	48.1	125,413
Malta	462	91.9	37,904
Andorra	130	168.5	15,618
Channel Islands	103	59.8	13,684
Gibraltar	98	290.8	6,153
San Marino	92	271.7	5,588
Liechtenstein	61	160.4	3,728
Isle of Man	60	70.9	9,970
Monaco	36	92.4	3,436
Iceland	34	9.4	14,255
Faroe Islands	5	10.3	2,615
Vatican	0	0.0	27

This information is regularly updated but may not reflect the latest totals for each country.

** The past data for new cases is a three day rolling average. Due to revisions in the number of cases, an average cannot be calculated for this date.

Source: Johns Hopkins University and national public health agencies

Figures last updated: 8 November 2021, 09:22 GMT

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