Dutch PM apologizes for easing COVID measures too soon

Caretaker Prime Minister Mark Rutte said on Monday that the Dutch government made a mistake by scrapping most coronavirus restrictions.

As daily COVID-19 infections hit their highest levels of the calendar year, the Dutch government on Friday reimposed a number of measures, including closing nightclubs and prohibiting major events.

Rutte had earlier defended the easing of restrictions as a "logical step," refusing to take any blame for possible mismanagement by his government. 

'Poor judgement'

Rutte and Health Minister Hugo de Jonge conceded that they had lifted restrictions too soon.

"What we thought would be possible, turned out not to be possible in practice," Rutte told reporters on Monday. "We had poor judgement, which we regret and for which we apologize."

Caretaker Health Minister Hugo de Jonge said the delta variant "has had, of course, an accelerating effect. You can unfortunately see that with hindsight."

The Netherlands had seen declining infection numbers and hospital admissions, prompting the government to ease measures, including allowing nightclubs to reopen for the first time in more than a year. 

Dutch health authorities reported over 9,300 new COVID infections on Sunday, the highest daily number since December last year. Just two weeks ago, the daily infection rate was around 500 cases. 

Mainly the young, few landing in hospital

In a letter to parliament last week, the Dutch Outbreak Management Team (OMT) said the "recent increase in numbers is faster than foreseen."

"We're seeing a recent exponential increase in the number of infections specifically among 18- to 25-year-olds," the OMT said, noting that infections were mainly taking place at nightclubs and within the hospitality sector.

However, there was no obvious increase in cases outside that age group, and hospital admissions had not risen significantly, according to OMT.

In the past weeks, thousands of young people had queued to get tested for COVID-19 as venues required either a negative test result or proof of vaccination for entry. 

OMT's letter to parliament included a suggestion to reconsider the country's pandemic evaluation system, which now heavily relies on the incidence rate, to focus more on vaccination and hospitalization rates.

Angela Merkel's spokesman Steffen Seibert mooted a similar change for Germany on Monday, saying that other statistics might be more useful now that much of the population is vaccinated, meaning COVID sufferers are less likely to wind up in hospitals and mortuaries.

More than 46% of the Netherlands' adult population is fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and at least 77% of adults have had at least one shot.

Still, the OMT warned that hospital admissions and "the burden of care" would likely go up again. 

A 'death blow' to nightclubs

Entertainment company ID&T, joined by 30 organizers of dance festivals and major events, filed a lawsuit against the Dutch state to overturn the restrictions, news agency ANP reported on Monday.

The Dutch Event Organizers' Federation said it was "sad and furious" about the government's decision to reimpose measures to curb the virus.

"This feels like the death blow to an industry which was the only one working with the government to find a solution," it said, referring to a test-for-admission experiment that allowed people to attend events without having to keep 1.5 meters apart. 

fb/msh (AFP, AP, Reuters)