AMSTERDAM (AP) – The Netherlands moved into a tougher lockdown Sunday that was announced amid spiking infections even before the country recorded its first confirmed cases of the new, more highly transmissible omicron virus variant.
Bars, restaurants, nonessential stores, cinemas and theatres were among the public places forced to shut from 5 p.m. until 5 a.m. under the new lockdown.
Wilko Klippens, who runs the Biessels cafe on the Grote Markt square in the city of Nijmegen, said the latest lockdown will further eat into his savings.
“We’re going to keep all the staff. You know, they’re going to pay their rent, pay their education. So yeah, it’s on us,” he said. “So the money we saved for retirement is the money we pay the staff with and the rent.”
The restrictions took effect hours after Health Minister Hugo de Jon …