Primary school children with a snotty nose must stay home from school and have a coronavirus test, according to revised guidelines from the government’s coronavirus Outbreak Management Team.

Parents are being urged to monitor their children from coronavirus symptoms as well as a runny nose, sneezing and sore throat, now schools are being reopened from Monday, the OMT said.

Children who cough occasionally, or who are known to suffer from asthma or hay fever, can continue to go to school as normal.

On Sunday, ministers will meet at the prime minister’s official residence to discuss the updated strategy to get coronavirus under control.

Insiders suggest that the curfew may be extended until March 2, when a number of other measures, including secondary school closures, are up for review.

Rutte hinted on Friday that the government is looking at allowing more sectors to partially reopen, once the infection rate has dropped sufficiently.

In the previous lockdown, normal life resumed on a sector by sector basis, starting with sport, then museums and then cafes. But this time perhaps more sectors ‘can open a little bit’, Rutte said.