Dutch transfer towards additional easing of coronavirus lockdown – KIRO 7 Information Seattle

The Hague, Netherlands – (AP) – Dutch zoos and theme parks are allowed to reopen next week under strict conditions. Bars and cafes may extend their outdoor patios’ opening hours if hospital and intensive care admissions continue to decline, caretaker Prime Minister Mark Rutte announced Tuesday.

Rutte said the country would move into the second phase of its gradual resurgence after a lockdown that lasted months on May 19, when numbers fell 20% from late April highs.

If not, the relaxation won’t go on. But Rutte said he expected the current downtrends to continue and easing will ease.

It’s “step two with a pause button,” Rutte said at a nationally televised press conference.

The second step in the government’s reopening roadmap also means that swimming pools, gyms, and other indoor sports venues can reopen under strict conditions to attendance and sex workers can go back to work. Open-air museums and theaters may be opened.

The previous Tuesday, the National Health Institute reported that intensive care unit admissions in hospitals had decreased by 22% in the last seven days from the previous week.

Over the same period, the number of positive coronavirus tests dropped 10% to 47,108, partly due to fewer people receiving tests due to the school holidays.

Neighboring Belgium announced on Tuesday that it would also ease its lockdown from next month.

Dutch bars and cafes reopened their outdoor terraces under strict conditions last month after a six-month lockdown.

Last month, large crowds also gathered in Dutch cities that were breaking social distancing rules to celebrate the national holidays on King’s Day.

Stressing the need to adhere to basic hygiene and social distancing rules, Rutte said local health officials attributed 17 major new infection clusters in Amsterdam to the King’s Day celebrations.

The government also said that starting May 15, it will ease its general advice not to travel abroad and allow people to travel to countries that have been considered safe due to their low infection rates.

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