At the press conference on Friday, May 28, Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Health Minister Hugo de Jonge announced that a handful of coronavirus restrictions would be lifted on Saturday, June 5.
As was hinted at this week, some restrictions will be eased from June 5:
The above relaxations come under stage three of the government’s five-step plan for lifting lockdown. According to the plan, these restrictions should have been lifted on May 26. However, the Dutch government and Outbreak Management Team (OMT) were concerned about the high number of coronavirus patients being treated in Dutch hospitals, and so stage three was postponed.
For so-called flow locations (i.e. museums) the maximum of one person applies per 10 metres squared. For spaces where visitors / customers have a set seat (i.e. theatres) a maximum of 50 applies - this rule also applies to indoor and outdoor sports areas (i.e. gyms). Exceptions apply to halls and cultural institutions with (more than) 1.000 seats, where a maximum capacity of 250 people applies.
At gyms, changing rooms and shower areas will once again be allowed to open, and adults will not be required to maintain 1,5-metre distance for certain sports (such as judo).
Rutte said with these relaxations, the national lockdown was being brought to an end. The government will continue to review the measures and the coronavirus situation in the Netherlands over the coming weeks, with the next press conference scheduled for June 22.
The cabinet has received the support of both the House of Representatives (Tweede Kamer) and the Senate (Eerste Kamer) for implementing the Temporary Test Certificates Act (Tijdelijke wet testbewijzen).
This means businesses, institutions, and events can ask customers / visitors to present a recent negative coronavirus test upon entry. However, it's important to note that access tests are by no means mandatory, but anywhere that chooses to make use of them will have no limits to the number of visitors / customers they can welcome (i.e. a cinema with 100 seats will be able to seat 100 people instead of just 50).
De Jonge highlighted this week's news that a Janssen vaccine delivery expected at the end of June is likely to be delayed. He, therefore, said that his goal of having everyone at least partially vaccinated by the start of July no longer seemed realistic, but that he still planned on having everyone at least partially vaccinated by mid-July.