Amsterdam is restricting access to its parks and canals over the weekend. Enforcement officers have also been instructed not to be lenient with people caught breaking the social distancing rules in place to curb the spread of coronavirus Covid-19, Amsterdam mayor Femke Halsema said to Het Parool.
Health
Apr 3 '20 15:30
Cruise ships MS Zaandam and MS Rotterdam of the Holland America Line were allowed to dock in Fort Lauderdale in Florida, Minister Stef Blok of Foreign Affairs said on Twitter. A number of passengers on MS Zaandam tested positive for coronavirus Covid-19.
Apr 3 '20 14:13
Another 148 patients in the Netherlands who tested positive for coronavirus have died. The total number of infected people in the country who have passed away stood at 1,487 on Friday afternoon, according figures published by the RIVM.
Apr 3 '20 13:00
The Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) launched an app that collects data about symptoms and human behavior. With this COVID Radar app, the hospital wants to get a good and current picture of how the cronavirus is spreading in the Netherlands.
Users of the app will be asked to answer 15 questions about their health and behavior. A map of the Netherlands will show the answers of other app users in a postcode area. Users will be able to filter this data based on symptoms.
Apr 3 '20 09:47
Despite the coronavirus crisis, courts urgently need to handle more criminal cases, according to defense lawyers, the Bar Association, and victims. Many thousands of criminal cases are being delayed because the courts and tribunals closed to all but the most urgent cases in mid-March. And the already significant backlogs are building up, NOS reports.
Apr 3 '20 09:06
Social distancing measures implemented to curb the spread of Covid-19 in the Netherlands resulted a massive decrease in visits to retail and recreation businesses, as well as public transit stations, according to mobility trends released by Google, using the same anonymous data used for products like Google Maps.
Apr 3 '20 08:22
As of 8:00 a.m. on Friday, a total of 1,198 people were being treated for coronavirus Covid-19 in intensive care units at hospitals across the Netherlands, according to figures released by foundation NICE. 74 Dutch hospitals have at least one coronavirus patient in their ICU.
A total of 1,629 Covid-19 patients have been treated in ICUs since the outbreak started in the Netherlands at the end of February. 214 of them died. Others recovered and were discharged from the intensive care.
Apr 3 '20 07:36
Almost all Netherlands residents say that they adhere to the rules and regulations in place to curb the spread of coronavirus Covid-19, according to a survey of more than 2,300 Dutch by I&O Research and the University of Twente. 99 percent of respondents said the keep 1.5 meters apart, 97 percent wash their hands more often, and 93 percent stay home as much as possible, NOS reports.
Apr 2 '20 19:18
Dutch and EU citizens as well as legal residents arriving in the Netherlands from the United States will be told to spend 14 days in home isolation in order to prevent possible new cases of coronavirus infection, the Cabinet confirmed on Thursday. The new measure was decided due to the “large increase in the number of coronavirus infections in New York, but also more broadly in the United States,” Prime Minister Mark Rutte confirmed after a meeting of the Ministerial Crisis Management Committee.
Apr 2 '20 17:43
Three of the five remaining coal-fired power plants in the Netherlands will see either their production scale back dramatically or their facilities close altogether in order to curb greenhouse gas emissions in the country. The Cabinet agreed to the measure on Friday, undisclosed sources told broadcaster NOS nearly a week later.
Apr 2 '20 14:06
The number of coronavirus related deaths in the Netherlands topped 1,300 on Thursday. Public health institute RIVM reported that another 166 people died of Covid-19, bringing the total deaths up to 1,339.
Apr 2 '20 12:40
Healthcare workers in the Netherlands are still facing a shortage of protective gear to protect them against the spread of coronavirus Covid-91, as well as a shortage of disinfectants, according to a survey by NU'91, the association for nurses and carers. At the same time, new research from TU Delft determined that many types of medical masks may be safely reused several times using a specific sterilzation procedure.
The NU'91 questionnaire was completed 6,500 times. In 92 percent of those, respondents said they had an insufficient access to protective gear, RTL Nieuws reports.
Apr 2 '20 11:50
The captains of the 18 Dutch clubs in the Eredivisie made contact to discuss the measures against the coronavirus being extended to April 28 and decided that they want the season to end with immediate effect. They consider the risk of infection to be too great. Ajax director Marc Overmars also wants the season to end, the Telegraaf reports.
Apr 2 '20 10:10
As of 9:50 a.m. on Thursday, a total 1,176 patients were being treated for coronavirus Covid-19 in intensive care units across the Netherlands, according to figures from foundation NICE. That is an increase of 24 ICU patients compared to Wednesday morning.
Since the start of the Covid-19 outbreak in the Netherlands, 1,548 patients with the coronavirus were admitted to intensive care. 199 of them died, and 51 recovered enough to be discharged from the ICU.
Apr 2 '20 09:50
The outbreak of the coronavirus, and the shortage of protective clothing it entails, is posing a problem for the fight against the oak processionary caterpillar, the association of gardeners and landscapers VHG and various contractors that fight the plague of poisonous caterpillars said to NRC.
Apr 2 '20 09:29
Most of the measures in place to combat the spread of coronavirus Covid-19 will likely remain in force for months yet to come, according virologists from three Dutch universities, based on their analysis of figures from health institute RIVM. The Ministerial Crisis Management Committee is meeting again on Thursday afternoon, but no new major measures are expected, NOS reports.
Apr 2 '20 08:37
The Dutch government is willing to contribute up to 1 billion euros to a yet-to-be-established European fund aimed at dealing with the coronavirus, Minister Wopke Hoekstra of Finance said. Countries hit hard by Covid-19 and that are not in good financial health can turn to the fund to finance medical aid. "I am thinking roughly of a few hundred million to 1 billion euros," Hoekstra said to NU.nl on Wednesday.
Apr 2 '20 08:05
The coronavirus will likely mean that the life expectancy in the Netherlands will fall this year, experts from Statistic Netherlands and the University of Amsterdam, and the association for intensive care NVIC said to newspaper AD.
Apr 1 '20 19:08
Dutch professional football will attempt to complete the current season before August 3, a deadline set today by European football federation UEFA. The Dutch football association, KNVB, said that concluding the season within the timeframe will only be possible if it can restart play by about the end of June.
Apr 1 '20 17:00
United States president Donald Trump called on the authorities in the state of Florida to allow the cruise ship MS Zaandam of the Holland America Line. Several people on the ship were diagnosed with coronavirus Covid-19 last week. The ship, which sails under the Dutch flag, has been looking for a port to dock in since. Trump is talking with Florida governor Ron DeSantis about allowing the cruise ship to dock, he said during the early hours of Wednesday morning, local time, NU.nl reports.
Apr 1 '20 16:10
Doctors at GP stations or emergency rooms are not allowed to view Covid-19 patients' files without their permission, the Dutch Data Protection Authority (AP) said in a letter to Ministers Martin van Rijn for Medical Care and Hugo de Jonge of Public Health. The two Ministers are currently working on a temporary regulation that allows patient data to be viewed without express permission, NRC reports.
Apr 1 '20 15:20
Over the past weeks, the Dutch police took down ten web shops who were selling coronavirus related scams. These online stores offered items ranging from antibacterial bank cards, to a Covid-19 tracker, and included multiple web shops offering medical masks for sale, the police said in a statement.
Apr 1 '20 14:06
Another 134 people succumbed to the coronavirus, brining the total number of Covid-19 deaths in the Netherlands to 1,173, public health substitute RIVM said on Wednesday. Two people who died were under the age of 50, the RIVM said. One was a man between the ages of 35 and 39, while the other was a woman between 45 and 49.
Apr 1 '20 12:49
Where ICU nurses normally care for two patients at a time, they are now caring for three or even four during the coronavirus, Diederik Gommers of the intensive care association NVIC said in a briefing to parliament on Wednesday. "That is stressful. The nurses feel the pressure. They feel the stress that they are not in control, that if they make mistakes, patients die," Gommers said, NU.nl reports.
