Netherlands To Shut Down At Night To Curb Covid Spike

Prime Minister Mark Rutte said that from Sunday, the whole of the Netherlands will be effectively closed between 5pm and 5am.

The Netherlands will be "effectively closed" in the evenings with bars, restaurants and shops shutting early to curb a spike in Covid cases, Prime Minister Mark Rutte said Friday.

Dozens of protesters held a peaceful demonstration in The Hague as Rutte tightened the country's partial lockdown, as hospitals warned they are being overwhelmed.

But fears of a repeat of the riots that swept the country last weekend over the government's coronavirus restrictions proved, for the time being, unfounded.

"From Sunday, the whole of the Netherlands is effectively closed between 5pm and 5am," Rutte told a televised press conference.