Netherlands makes face masks mandatory indoors

The Netherlands has made it compulsory to wear a face mask in indoor public spaces in an effort to contain the spread of coronavirus.

The country is one of the last in Europe to introduce such a measure.

The rule will apply to those over the age of 13 in public buildings such as shops, railway stations and hairdressers from Tuesday.

The Netherlands has been one of the countries worst affected by Europe’s second wave of Covid-19.

It broke daily case records throughout October, and the number of new confirmed infections in the country of 17 million has remained fairly stable at about 5,000 a day for several weeks.

The new face mask rule will remain in place for at least three months, with those who ignore it facing a fine of up to €95 (£85; $113).

But there are questions over how the measure will be enforced. Major retail chains have said they will inform customers about the rule but not refuse entry to those without a face covering.

“This is not something which we consider part of our job as shop workers,” a spokesman for the Mirage retail group said.

Separately, under the measure, students and teachers will have to wear a mask when moving around school buildings but not during lessons. Teachers who move around the classroom while talking, however, will have to put on a face covering.

Places of worship, such as churches, temples, and mosques, are exempt.

“Making face masks mandatory almost everywhere makes it clearer what the rules are,” a government website reads. “[We] want to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.”

Earlier in the year, the Dutch government adopted a strategy of “intelligent lockdown” that avoided strict national restrictions and did not shut down as much of public life as in many other countries.

At the time, Prime Minister Mark Rutte described the Netherlands as a “grown-up country” where people were glad to be “treated as adults”.

Only in September were people in the country’s major cities advised to wear face masks in shops.