Cyclists and motorcyclists were urged to stay at home over the extended Easter weekend, the Dutch traffic safety group VVN announced on Thursday. This comes as a surge in traffic accidents have been recorded in recent years over the holiday period, a trend that the VVN is desperately trying to avoid this time around.
“It is of vital importance that in a crisis like this we take no risks considering the scarcity of hospital beds and the overworking of hospital personnel,” the group says.
There is "zero chance" that life in the Netherlands will return to normal after April 28, Prime Minister Mark Rutte said at a press conference on Thursday. The current rules in place around social distancing, specifically that people are required to keep a distance of 1.5 meters from others, will be kept in place for a while longer, Rutte said after the cabinet held a meeting to discuss Covid-19 measures.
The Dutch football federation KNVB is planning to resume its professional football season on June 19. For this to happen, clubs would need to start training by May 15, despite the fact that football has been banned until at least June 1. The mayors of several cities with football teams were not in agreement with the plans.
The KNVB's plans are dependent on updates regarding coronavirus distancing measures in place in The Netherlands. Prime Minister Mark Rutte is expected to update the nation on April 21 over these issues.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was admitted to ICU with the coronavirus on Monday, after being hospitalized on Sunday. Prime Minister Mark Rutte wished him strength and a speedy recovery on Twitter.
"On behalf of the Dutch government, I wish Boris Johnson, his family and the British people much strength and luck in this difficult time. I hope to soon be able to him in good health," the Dutch Prime Minister tweeted.
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.
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.
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.
The relationship between Italy and the Netherlands has not deteriorated due to the lack of European support to save the Italian economy, Italy's Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said in an interview with the Telegraaf. "The friendship with the Dutch people remains in tact."
A new study which promises to reveal how many people have antibodies for the novel coronavirus is set to be launched over the course of the next several months, Dutch public health agency RIVM announced on Monday.
"In the coming months, RIVM will measure antibodies in the blood over several rounds of research," a statement announcing the study reads. "With the results, RIVM aims to learn more about the spread of the virus and about the development of herd immunity in all age groups."
Speaking about the heightened tensions between the Netherlands and several southern EU nations over the issuance of “coronabonds”, Finance Minister Wopke Hoekstra indicated on Tuesday that he had previously shown “too little empathy” for the plight of Europe’s southern economies. Such a measure would be designed to support weaker economies, particularly in the south, which are struggling under the weight of the coronavirus pandemic.
The measures in place to curb the spread of coronavirus Covid-19 will be extended until at least April 28, Prime Minister Mark Rutte announced in a press conference on Tuesday evening, after meeting with experts, advisers and the Ministerial Crisis Management Team. During this time schools, daycare facilities, restaurants, museums, and other contact-heavy businesses will remain closed.
Spring in the Netherlands started out with a record number of sunny hours this year, according to Weerplaza. Over the past 11 days, there were over 100 hours of sunshine in the country, breaking the 1933 record of 98 sunny hours. The sunny weather made it difficult for some people to stick to the social distancing measures in place to curb the spread of coronavirus Covid 19.
A group of 12 Italian politicians lambasted the Netherlands on Tuesday, angered by Dutch reticence to support European financial assistance to countries most affected by coronavirus. The Netherlands blocked emergency aid to EU member states, despite “using its tax system to withdraw tax revenue from major European countries for years,” they wrote in an open letter published in German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
The government is going to extend the measures in place to curb the spread of coronavirus Covid-19. These measures were initially implemented until April 6th. Until when they will be in place will be announced on Tuesday, various Dutch media report.
The cabinet will meet with experts and advisers on Tuesday. After that the Ministerial Crisis Management Committee will gather, followed by a press conference by Prime Minister Mark Rutte and the other Minsters involved, according to NOS. The press conference is expected at around 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday.
Beaches, streets and public areas across the Netherlands stood largely quiet on Saturday as the public continued to adhere to the new rule that requires 1.5 meters distance to be kept between people. The quietude comes in spite of the fair weather forecasts for the weekend which similarly drew large crowds to gather a week ago even after government and health officials pleaded with them to remain home as much as possible to help quell the coronavirus pandemic.
When the leaders of the EU Member States could not agree on a 400 billion euros emergency fund to absorb the blows of the coronavirus, there was criticism from other EU countries that the Netherlands was thinking only of itself in blocking this fund. Prime Minister Mark Rutte denied this. "The idea that the Netherlands alone stands against the entire south is not true," he said to RTL Nieuws. "There is a fairly broad group against it and that was expressed quite firmly."
Several parties in the lower house of Dutch parliament are in favor of forcing pharmaceutical company Roche to release the manufacturing process and recipe of the coronavirus test they make, if this is necessary. This would make it possible for tests to be produced in the Netherlands, NOS reports.
The government will decide next week Tuesday how the Netherlands will proceed in the fight against the coronavirus. The decisions will affect measures in place unit April 6, including working from home and the closure of schools, restaurants and museums. Events that need a permit will be canceled until at least June 1st, Prime Minister Mark Rutte said, NOS reports.
Another 811 people were diagnosed with coronavirus since Monday, public health agency RIVM said. In the past 24 hours, another 265 people were reportedly hospitalized, and 63 more people died who had previously tested positive.
Since the first person tested positive in late February, a total of 1,495 patients required hospitalization. On Monday evening, the number of patients in intensive care reached 487. The age range of the deceased patients remained between 55 and 97 years of age.
The Netherlands' mayors are pleased with the new packet of measures the government implemented against the spread of the coronavirus on Monday. The new measures give them "clear rules" and the possibility to intervene.
The Dutch cabinet introduced three new regulations to fight the spread of coronavirus in the country, after a sunny weekend brought thousands of people to popular outdoor areas, defying the ban on groups of people gathered in one place and the advice that people keep at least a 1.5-meter distance from each other. The new rules include fines when members of the public disregard the regulations, and an order that no more than two people stand together within their 150-centimeter personal space.
The Ministerial Crisis Management Committee will be meeting again on Monday evening to discuss whether any further measures need to be taken around coronavirus Covid-19. After that the safety offices of at least 25 different regions will meet in Utrecht to discuss municipal and regional measures, NOS reports.
Thirty more people diagnosed with the coronavirus died in the Netherlands since Friday, raising the death toll to 136. The country's health agency said another 637 people tested positive for the virus, which raises the country's total to 3,631 since testing began in late February.
Patients requiring hospitalization also rose by 193 patients, health agency RIVM said. To date, 836 coronavirus patients were admitted to the hospital since testing started.
Another 534 people in the Netherlands were diagnosed with coronavirus since Thursday, which took the country's total number of infected people to 2,994. Thirty of those patients died since Thursday, meaning that 106 people with coronavirus have died in the Netherlands, public health agency RIVM said on Friday.
