A government ban on sport in the Netherlands has been extended to 1 September as further steps are taken in the battle against the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
All major public events, including professional sports and music festivals, are now prohibited for almost four-and-a-half months as the government seek to prevent a resurgence in infections.
According to the Reuters news agency, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the Netherlands rose to 34,134 on Tuesday with the total number of deaths standing at 3,916.
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said:
“It’s better to be cautious now than to have regrets later.
“I would love to say we could go a lot further. But that is very scary and dangerous. We see a little improvement in the data, but just imagine that we would relax some measures, causing the virus to peak again.
“That’s something we all absolutely don’t want.”
One of the sporting casualties would be the domestic Dutch football season with governing body KNVB saying it would not now try to complete the 2019-20 season.
It also again brings into question the real likelihood of the European Championships taking place in Budapest, Hungary, after they were tentatively rescheduled from 17-30 August.