General view of the canals at the Prinsengracht in Amsterdam, Netherlands 10 March 2021.; Credit: Eva Plevier / Reuters

THE HAGUE (Reuters) - 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 18 December 2021.

Measures including the closure of all non-essential shops, restaurants, hairdressers and gyms will go into effect on Sunday 19 December 2021 and remain in place until 14 January 2022.

All schools will be closed until 9 January 2022.

"The Netherlands is again shutting down. That is unavoidable because of the fifth wave that is coming at us with the Omicron variant," Minister Rutte told a televised news conference.

Other measures include a recommendation that households receive no more than two visitors and that gatherings outside are also limited to a maximum of two people.

A failure to act now would likely lead to "an unmanageable situation in hospitals", which have already scaled back regular care to make space for COVID-19 patients, Minister Rutte said.

Infections in the Netherlands have dropped from record levels in recent weeks after the introduction of a nighttime lockdown late last month. The Omicron variant arrived as the country was already battling a wave in coronavirus infections.

Cases of the variant have surged since it was first found in the Netherlands three weeks ago, while hospitals are struggling with the large numbers of COVID-19 patients in their wards, near the highest levels this year.

Omicron is expected to become the most dominant variant of the virus in the Netherlands between Christmas and New Year's Eve, leading Dutch infectious disease expert Jaap van Dissel said.

While more than 85% of the Dutch adult population is vaccinated, fewer than 9% of adults have had a booster shot, one of the lowest rates in Europe.

On Saturday 18 December 2021, the National Institute for Public Health (RIVM) reported a total of over 2.9 million COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic, with 20,420 reported deaths. There were 14,616 new infections reported in last 24 hours.