The government will recommend against foreign travel up to mid May during Tuesday evening’s press conference, sources in The Hague have told broadcaster NOS. That would rule out any breaks abroad during the May school holidays, which take place in the early part of the month.

At the weekend it emerged that hopes the coronavirus rules would be relaxed in April have been dashed, following a rise in new cases, and an increase in the crucial R number. Ministers said at the last press conference they hoped that café terraces would be able to reopen for Easter.

Health minister Hugo de Jonge told reporters on Monday that the statements about the possible relaxation of the rules for Easter two weeks ago were unconnected to the looming general election.

Both De Jonge and prime minister Mark Rutte stressed at the time that the infection rates would have to be good enough to allow the rules to be relaxed.

With the lockdown set to continue, Rotterdam mayor Achmed Aboutaleb has says he sees problems if the curfew continues during Ramadan, which starts in mid April. ‘Fasting goes on until about 9.30pm, and then people tend to visit family,’ he said. ‘Let us hope that the figures are better by then and we can see some relaxation of the rules.’

According to broadcaster NOS, ministers are considering starting the curfew an hour later at 10pm, given that the Netherlands moves to summertime the coming weekend and it will be light for longer.

Sports

Meanwhile, Diederik Gommers of the government’s Outbreak Management Team group of health advisors, has said that officials should have stressed the importance of a healthy lifestyle earlier in the pandemic.

The emphasis on staying home and keeping 1.5 metres apart may have been the wrong choice, Gommers said, following the publication of figures by Dutch sports body NOC*NSF showing that both adults and children have been taking less exercise during the pandemic.

‘I should have said it louder, but we should have been stimulating people to take part in sports outdoors and that should have been the first of the rules to be relaxed,’ he said. Taking exercise, eating well, sleeping properly and losing weight all have a preventative impact on the virus, he said.

DutchNews.nl will be reporting live from the press conference via Twitter.