The Dutch government has reintroduced nightlife restrictions only two weeks after lifting them.
It’s a U-turn that has come as a shock to many events organisers and venue owners, but comes after a steep rise in COVID-19 infections. Rising from under 1,000 new reported daily cases to over 9,000 in the space of only a week.
Holland’s Prime Minister, Mark Rutte gave a statement on the decision, saying: “Our aim is to protect those with vulnerable health conditions and the health service, as well as to cause as little damage as possible to the economy and society, It is not a question of blaming a particular age group or sector.”
While many of the rules linked to the pandemic are now changing in the Netherlands, masks are still not compulsory in public areas except for public transport.
Nightclubs are once again forced shut, and social distancing measures have been reintroduced to the hospitality sector. The Prime minister also made a call for those who haven’t been vaccinated to get their injection quickly as possible.
Currently, there is no end date set for the new restrictions, but they will be in place until at least August 13th when they will come under review.
ID&T is a leading Dutch promoter known for its large-scale events, and they are leading a group of over 30 events organisers who are considering legal action against the country’s government. Urging them to reconsider restrictions, and work to the “Fieldlab conditions” of the test events, which gathered data on how to safely reopen the nightlife industry.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the group said: “These conditions for organizing a safe event, without social distancing, have been drawn up on the basis of the carefully conducted research and extensive experiments that Fieldlab Events carried out earlier this year, and have also been endorsed by the Dutch government.”
Ritty van Straalen is CEO of ID&T, and he said: “The fact that so many parties in the market are joining us reflects perfectly what the impact is on the entire public events industry.
