The measures come following cases rising sharply in the last week or two
Mayor Koen Schuiling of Groningen will announce stricter anti-Coronavirus measures on Friday evening, reports RTV Noord. This follows the city being placed in a new risk category: “concerning”. The mayor will probably announce that restaurants will have to be closed earlier in the evening, in line with other regions in similar predicaments around the Netherlands.
In six regions in the West of the country, stricter rules have been in place since Sunday, these include the earlier closure of catering establishments, and placing a maximum group size of fifty people, as opposed to a hundred before.
Bert Niesters, virologist at the UMCG, fears a new lockdown. “It starts with regional measures, but if we don’t all behave differently, all regions will eventually merge into one”, he says.
A face-mask requirement would help, he thinks: “I was not in favour of it [before now], because there was a shortage. But it’s an eternal discussion in the Netherlands; half the world is doing it and we have to mention it every time [as it could help].”
Niesters also calls out irresponsible students, that complain about the measures whilst flaunting them. “They had imagined their college days differently. Well, I pictured my life differently, I can’t do things either. And it’s no nonsense, the hospitals are filling up.”
