The Netherlands became the first EU country to impose stringent holiday restrictions in the face of surging Omicron cases on Sunday.
Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte announced on Saturday that all restaurants, bars, non-essential shops, beauty salon, concert venues and cinemas would close on Sunday.
Most indoor sports facilities will close, and supermarkets and chemists are open. The schools and colleges will be closed on January 9. The funeral is limited to 100 attendees.
People will be allowed to receive four visitors indoors over the Christmas period, but only one visitor.
The government said that the lockdown will last until at least January 22.
Rutte told reporters that it was not possible to avoid the lock down.
The whole of the Netherlands is sighing. "This Christmas is completely different from what we would like, and it's one week before Christmas," Rutte said on Saturday.
The government was criticized for its handling of COVID-19.
The Dutch imposed an "intelligent lockdown" that focused on shielding high-risk people while aiming for population immunity during the early stages of the Pandemic.
The Netherlands has taken a long time to get its booster program going. 9% of its population have received a booster shot.
Almost half of the population over the age of 12 in the UK have received a booster dose of Omicron.
According to the National Institute for Public Health in the Netherlands, there have been more than 2 million COVID-19 cases since the start of the Pandemic.
There were 14,616 confirmed cases in 24 hours, down from a peak of around 23,000 in late November. Jaap van Dissel, a Dutch infectious disease expert, said that Omicron will be the dominant coronaviruses in the Netherlands in December and January.
Germany has imposed travel restrictions on the UK. Only German citizens and residents can enter the country from the UK, and they must have a negative COVID-19 test. They have to suck it up for 14 days.
Guidance for people to work from home has been issued by the UK, but it has stopped short of further restrictions despite predictions that coronaviruses could reach 2 million infections per day.
According to the Times of London, the government is considering banning indoor meetings for two weeks, limiting attendees at weddings and funerals, and returning to outdoor service only at restaurants and bars.
Austria lifted most restrictions for vaccine people. If travellers haven't had a booster shot by December 20, they will have to provide a negative COVID-19 test.
