Dutch government under pressure to ease lockdown as cases fall

His office has so far said only that primary schools and daycares will reopen on Feb. 8, despite rioting sparked by a decision to impose a curfew last month. The National Institute for Health (RIVM) said there had been 28,628 cases in the past week, down 20% from the week before and now at the lowest level since lockdown measures were introduced in October.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte faced new pressure to ease the country's lockdown on Tuesday as coronavirus infections continued to decline. Rutte was due to give an update on lockdown measures at a news conference later on Tuesday. His office has so far said only that primary schools and daycares will reopen on Feb. 8, despite rioting sparked by a decision to impose a curfew last month.

The National Institute for Health (RIVM) said there had been 28,628 cases in the past week, down 20% from the week before and now at the lowest level since lockdown measures were introduced in October. However, this week's decline "would have been greater without the new variants of the virus that have entered the Netherlands, especially the British Variant", the RIVM said in a statement.

Health Minister Hugo de Jonge said on Monday that half of the cases in the country were being caused by the new variant as of Jan. 26, up from around a third the week before. The government fears the variant may cause a new wave of infections ahead of March 17 elections. But resistance to the Dutch lockdown has been growing, and the curfew - the first since World War II - led to several nights of rioting..

In addition, the sluggish pace of the Dutch vaccine roll-out, among the slowest in Europe, has led to worries the lockdown may be last for another month or more. Schools and non-essential shops have been shut since mid-December, following the closure of bars and restaurants two months earlier.