At his latest press conference, Health Minister Kuipers laid down the plan to scrap most remaining COVID-19 measures before the end of February.
Starting on February 15th, people are encouraged to go to the office 50% of the time and there’ll be no house guest limit of 4 people per day.
From February 18th, horeca and cultural venues will be able to stay open until 1 am and there will be no more obligation to use face masks and keep social distance. It will still be necessary to show the corona pass to access said venues. Universities and other higher education institutions will again be able to host students in big lecture halls. Anyone who tests positive will now have to isolate for five days instead of seven (but they’ll still need to show no symptoms for 24 hours before).
Starting on February 25th, there will be no need to use the corona pass anymore. At the same time, bars and cafes will be able to stay open after 1 am, social distance will not be mandatory anywhere and facemasks will remain a requirement only on planes and public transportation.
By the end of the month, the only measures still in place will be mandatory testing for indoor events with more than 500 people and for people traveling to the Netherlands from non-EU high-risk countries (regardless of vaccination status).
Kuipers recognized that infection rates are still high (around 55,000 per day), but that the government feels confident because hospitals admissions have been stable.
Fewer COVID patients in Groningen ICU
On February 16th there were 24 patients admitted with a COVID-19 infection in Groningen, two of whom are in Intensive Care, as reported by the Acute Care Network Northern Netherlands. On February 10th the number of corona patients admitted at the hospital had been 25, with 5 in the ICU, as reported by the Groningen Internet Courant.
