Lawmakers in Netherlands criticize government’s handling of coronavirus crisis

The leader of one of the parties in Dutch PM Mark Rutte’s ruling coalition joined opposition lawmakers on Wednesday in criticizing the government’s handling of the coronavirus crisis, AP reported. In particular, a decision to make some quarantine measures mandatory was slammed. The criticism came during a debate that interrupted the Dutch parliament’s summer recess, and amid sharply rising infection rates in the Netherlands.

“If I look at how the Cabinet has reacted over the past weeks, the word that springs to mind is chaos,” opposition Labor Party leader Lodewijk Asscher said, as he opened the debate with Rutte and Health Minister Hugo de Jonge.

The government said on Tuesday evening that it is planning to introduce mandatory quarantine for people identified by local health authorities as having been in close contact with somebody infected with the coronavirus, and for travelers returning from high-risk countries. Party for Freedom leader Geert Wilders called the measure “disproportionate.”