The Netherlands will go into "lockdown" over the Christmas period to try to stop a surge of the Omicron coronavirus variant, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said Saturday.
All non-essential shops, restaurants, bars, cinemas, museums and theatres must shut from Sunday until January 14, while schools must close until at least January 9, Rutte said.
The number of guests that people are allowed in their house is also being cut from four to two, except for Christmas Day on December 25.
"I stand here tonight in a sombre mood," 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 head of the Dutch outbreak management team, Jaap van Dissel, told the news conference that the Omicron variant would overtake the Delta strain to become dominant in the Netherlands by the end of the year.
'Major incident'
London mayor Sadiq Khan on Saturday declared a "major incident" in the British capital due to the spread of the Omicron variant.
More than 65,000 new cases were confirmed in London over the past seven days, and 26,418 cases reported in the last 24 hours -– the highest number since the start of the pandemic.
A major incident is defined as an event with a range of serious consequences which requires special arrangements to be implemented, and is aimed at helping authorities support each other to reduce service disruption in the city.
Khan previously declared a major incident on January 8 during a previous wave of the virus, but stood down the order a month later as case numbers fell.
"The surge in cases of the Omicron variant across our capital is hugely concerning, so we are once again declaring a major incident because of the threat of Covid-19 to our city," said Khan.
"It's right that London's key agencies work closely together to minimise the impact on our city, including helping to protect the vital vaccination programme," he added.
Britain has recorded record case numbers for three days in a row, prompting the introduction of new regulations and reports of another lockdown on the way.