THE HAGUE – Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte on Monday extended the country's tough coronavirus lockdown until the end of the month, but he added a note of hope to his message to a pandemic-weary nation by predicting that a “tipping point is coming when the vaccine gains the upper hand over the virus and more will be possible.” Rutte was speaking a week before a parliamentary election in the Netherlands at which he is seeking a fourth term that could make him the longest-serving Dutch leader.
The pandemic is casting a long shadow over other issues in the countdown to three days of voting that start on March 15. Rutte said that the 9 p.m.