The Netherlands will extend COVID-19 restrictions through the Christmas holidays, including the early closure of schools, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said on Tuesday. The rapid spread of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, which is making up roughly 1% of new infections in the country, “is a reason to be concerned and to be cautious,” Rutte said in a televised comments. Elementary schools will close a week early to try to prevent children from infecting older family members during Christmas as hospitals struggle with a wave of COVID-19 patients. Rutte said a second Christmas “during which grandparents couldn’t hug their grandkids under the tree” was a painful necessity. Booster vaccine shots […]