More people in need of aid as Covid pandemic continues: Red Cross

As the coronavirus pandemic continues to stretch on, more and more people in the Netherlands need help with food, medical care, mental health care or even shelter, the Red Cross said on Monday. The aid organization expects that it will need a further 48 million euros by May to provide this aid to people in need, NOS reports.

The Red Cross launched its National Action Plan for the pandemic when it first hit the Netherlands in March. Some eight months later, in the midst of the second wave of Covid-19 infections, demand for help continues to increase.

"We are in the middle of the second corona wave and wee see that people are losing jobs, have too little to eat, and are sometimes even without a roof over their heads," Red Cross director Marieke van Schaik said to the broadcaster. "We expect that the most vulnerable in our society will experience the consequences of this corona crisis for a long time yet."

Experts previously warned that this crisis is harder on vulnerable people in society. People with low incomes more often have jobs that cannot be done from home, live closer together with more people per household, don't have access to the tools needed for things like distance learning, and have less access to protective gear.