The Netherlands will go into a strict lockdown over the Christmas and New Year period to try to contain the highly- contagious Omicron coronavirus variant, Prime Minister Mark Rutte said on Saturday.
All non-essential shops, restaurants, bars, cinemas, museums and theatres must shut from Sunday until 14 January, while schools must close until at least 9 January, Mr Rutte said.
People are now only allowed two guests at home, except for Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, 26 December and the New Year period when four guests are permitted.
"I stand here tonight in a sombre mood," Mr Rutte told a televised press conference.
"To sum it up in one sentence, the Netherlands will go back into lockdown from tomorrow.
"It is inevitable with the fifth wave and with Omicron spreading even faster than we had feared. We must now intervene as a precaution."
The Omicron strain would soon overtake the Delta variant in the Netherlands, said the head of the Dutch outbreak management team, Jaap van Dissel.
"Between Christmas and the turn of the year the Omicron variant will become dominant," van Dissel told the news conference.
The scientist warned that if Omicron's effect is as strong as Delta's, hospitalisations could exceed those in the first wave of the disease in early 2020.
"We know that the variant can outflank built-up defences from previous infections or previous vaccinations, especially if that was some time ago," he said.
People shopping in Amsterdam ahead of a hard lockdown. Source: AAP
'Netherlands sighing'
Mr Rutte's announcement came after an emergency cabinet meeting, and just four days after the government extended its previous measures and announced that schools would start their holidays earlier.
Long queues developed outside shops earlier Saturday as people rushed to do last-minute Christmas shopping as reports of the new measures emerged.
"It's too busy, but I'm coming before the Christmas holidays to pick up gifts, it seems like a new lockdown is coming," Ayman Massori, 19, told AFP in The Hague.
Mr Rutte, who earlier this week reached a coalition deal that will give him a fourth term as premier, acknowledged the effect on the national mood during the festive period.
"I can now hear the whole of the Netherlands sighing. This is exactly one week before Christmas, another Christmas that is completely different from what we would like," said Mr Rutte.
But he insisted that "Omicron is forcing us to limit our number of contacts as quickly as possible, and as much as possible, which is why the Netherlands will be locked," he said.
The Dutch Covid restrictions have led to a 21-per cent decline in infections in the week from 7-14 December, according to official health authority data.
The Netherlands also recorded a "slight decline" in hospital admissions, but authorities insisted that Omicron was still "a cause for concern".
Nearly 86 per cent of all adults in the Netherlands have been vaccinated.
But the Dutch booster campaign has been slow to get off the ground, and Health Minister Hugo de Jonge said all over-18s would now get an invitation by 7 January.
The Netherlands relaxed most social distancing measures in September, but by November infections were back up to record levels of more than 20,000 a day.
The restrictions have been unpopular, with riots breaking out in Rotterdam, The Hague and other cities in late November.
'Major incident' in London
It comes as London mayor Sadiq Khan declared a "major incident" in the British capital, calling the case surge "hugely concerning".
Britain registered record case numbers for three days in a row during the week, prompting new regulations and reports that another lockdown is being considered. Most of the new cases recorded in London are of the Omicron variant.
In France, a scientific panel urged the government to impose "significant restrictions" on new year festivities, and the capital Paris announced "with regret" that it was cancelling all events on the Champs Elysees.
Regional leaders in neighbouring Germany on Saturday called on the central government to tighten border controls and suspend arrivals from the UK, which has a high incidence of Omicron cases.
New health minister Karl Lauterbach welcomed the initiative, saying: "The longer we can postpone the time when Omicron takes hold of us the better."
Germany has already designated France and Denmark as high-risk zones, imposing quarantine on unvaccinated travellers.
Elsewhere in Europe, edgy governments are bringing back restrictions to fight the pandemic, which has killed at least 5,335,968 people since the outbreak emerged in China in December 2019.
Ireland is ordering bars and restaurants to close at 8pm, .
European countries are also pushing hard to dole out booster jabs and widen vaccination programmes to include children.
Portugal said tens of thousands of under-12s were set to receive their first jab this weekend.
French Health Minister Olivier Veran said its rollout to children would begin on Wednesday.
"If all goes well, we will start vaccination of children on the afternoon of December 22 in specially adapted centres," he told France Inter radio.
'Disgraceful for humanity'
The United States was the first large country to take the plunge and has so far vaccinated more than five million under-12s.
In Denmark, one of the first European countries to start jabbing children, youngsters were putting on a brave face this week as they waited for their vaccines.
"Everybody in the family was vaccinated, I was the last one," youngster Camelia told AFP. "I'm happy I did it because now, if I get corona, I won't feel anything."
However, the EU's health agency has warned that relying on vaccines alone will not work.
A child receives COVID-19 vaccination at Amager vaccination centre, Denmark, 28 November 2021. Source: AAP
Mask-wearing, working from home and avoiding crowds were essential to reduce the burden on health systems in the short term, the ECDC has said.
And the global picture continues to be a major cause of concern, with an AFP count based on official figures suggesting the number of new infections in Africa has shot up by 57 per cent in the past week.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told a forum of African leaders and officials on Saturday that the continent's low vaccination coverage was "disgraceful for humanity".
"We are aware of the global injustice in accessing the COVID-19 vaccine and Africa's unjust treatment," he said, promising to supply 15 million vaccine doses to the continent.
