Coronavirus: Dutch Prime Minister didn't see dying mother due to lockdown

News comes as Britain is embroiled in a row over leader's top adviser flouting social distancing rules

Mark Rutte, the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, did not visit his dying mother as he had to abide bhy strict lockdown restrictions to stop the spread of the coronavirus. AFP

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte was unable to visit his dying mother in her final weeks because he obeyed coronavirus restrictions against visiting care homes, his spokesperson said on Monday.

The news came as the UK was gripped by a political row over allegations that Dominic Cummings, top aide to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, broke coronavirus social distancing rules to travel 260 miles across England to stay on his parents' estate.

Mr Rutte on Monday announced the death of 96-year-old Mieke Rutte-Dilling in a home in The Hague on May 13, nearly two months after the government shut all such institutions to the public on March 20.

"The prime minister has complied with all directives", Mr Rutte's spokesman told AFP when asked about reports that the premier had stuck to the rules and so not seen his mother before she died.

Dutch media reported that Mr Rutte’s mother did not die of coronavirus although there had earlier been an outbreak of the disease in the home where she was living.

Mr Rutte earlier announced his mother's death, saying that "in addition to the great sadness and all fond memories, my family and I also have a feeling of gratitude that we were allowed to have her with us for so long."

"We have now said goodbye to her in a family circle and hope to be able to deal with this great loss in peace in the near future," he added.

Dutch authorities allowed individual visits to some care homes from Monday, a measure that will be extended to all of them on June 15.

The Netherlands – which has less strict lockdown conditions than many other European countries -- has so far recorded 5,830 coronavirus deaths and 45,445 infections.

Although the Netherlands’s social restriction measures are stricter than Sweden’s, its “intelligent lockdown” strategy has been criticised by some for costing extra lives.

The controversial “herd immunity” strategy was initially embraced by the Dutch government before it claimed it wasn't its main objective.