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.
The coronavirus crisis is also having an effect on the the Netherlands' criminal underworld. The police received information that planned assassinations are being postponed after social distancing measures were implemented to curb the spread of Covid-19, Jan Struijs of police union NPB said to the Telegraaf.
According to Struijs, the slow down in murder attempts may have to do with the emptier streets - getaway cars are now easier to spot and follow. "The chance of getting caught is greater now," he said to the newspaper.
American ambassador to the Netherlands Pete Hoekstra lashed out at China and the information it provided about the coronavirus in an interview with Dutch newspaper AD. According to Hoekstra, China did not give the world reliable data about Covid-19 and is still not being transparent about the actual number of coronavirus infections and deaths in the country.
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.
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.
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.
Some 40 thousand jobs in the construction sector will disappear in the coming two years due to the coronavirus, according to the economic institute for construction EIB. The institute thinks this crisis will hit construction harder than the 2008 economic crisis. EIB expects construction production to shrink by over 15 percent, NOS reports.
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.
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.
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.
The Amsterdam Concertgebouw orchestra will live-stream a performance of Bach's St. Matthew Passion, conducted by Ivan Fischer, on Friday. The performance will start at 7:00 p.m. and can be watched on the Amsterdam Concertgebouw's website, YouTube channel or Facebook page.
Schools in The Hague region lost touch with hundreds of pupils after schools closed as one of the measures to curb the spread of coronavirus Covid-19. These kids aren't following online lessons, and their teachers can't get in touch of them or their parents, Omroep West reports after speaking to multiple school groups in the area. Almost 400 pupils have fallen off the radar in The Hague and the surrounding area, according tot he broadcaster.
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.
The Ministry of Education, Culture and Science allocated 2.5 million euros to purchase laptops for school pupils who have to do distance learning due to the coronavirus and do not have the proper equipment at home. This money will buy laptops for over 6,800 pupils in primary-, secondary-, and secondary vocational education, Sivon, a partnership of school boards, said to NOS.
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.
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.
Airlines are only allowed to give vouchers in return for a canceled flight if the passenger agrees. If not, the canceled ticket must be refunded, European Commissioner for Transport Adina Valean said. With that she threw a spanner in the works of Dutch Infrastructure Minister Cora van Nieuwenhuizen's plan to allow airlines to compensate passengers with vouchers.
Mona Keijzer, the State Secretary for Economic Affairs in the Netherlands, responded by asking the public to accept the vouchers as a way of supporting the embattled travel industry.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Members of parliament have shown broad support for Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s measures to stem the spread of the coronavirus, although some MPs assert that more ought to be done. This comes as the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of Dutch Parliament, convened on Tuesday to debate the government’s current efforts to tackle the ongoing crisis, and its path forward.
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.
