Noord-Brabant

Some nursing homes in the Netherlands are allowing residents' partners to move in with them for the duration of the Covid-19 pandemic, provided that the partner follows the same precautionary rules as the residents, Trouw reports after speaking to 14 nursing home groups across the country. The government banned visits to nursing homes, unless a resident is dying, as to not expose their vulnerable residents to the coronavirus.

Police say they have found the 33-year-old man wanted in connection with the deaths of his two children, their mother, and their grandmother. Authorities were searching for Onur K. after the four were found dead in their home in Etten-Leur, Noord-Brabant on Saturday evening.

The announcement was made just before 4 p.m. by police working in the Breda district. Officers would only say that the man was found in Etten-Leur, but no other details were immediately available.

The bodies of four people were found inside a house in Etten-Leur, Noord-Brabant on Saturday night, police said. The victims were possibly residents of the home, prompting a criminal investigation.

Firefighters were initially dispatched to the scene shortly after 6:10 p.m. when foul smell was reported in the area. Police descended on the scene a little while later. Once there, the deceased were found in the Dassenburcht home. 

Dutch public health agency RIVM said there were 9,762 people who tested positive for coronavirus in the Netherlands on Saturday, an increase of 1,159 over Friday's total. The agency added that 93 more people who tested positive later died, bringing the total number of Dutch fatal cases to 639.

The public attention given to the number of deaths and infections at the hands of Covid-19 has led to speculation about the impact of the disease on the Netherlands in comparison to in other affected countries. However, experts warn, the tendency to draw conclusions from numbers alone can be misleading.

Over 30 people have already been turned away from the Dutch borders since the entry ban came into force on Thursday at 6 p.m., the Marechaussee confirmed to NL Times. Most travelers who were denied entry into the Netherlands were turned back after landing at Schiphol Airport, while two travelers were turned back at Eindhoven Airport, the military branch said.

So far, no denials of entry have been made at any of the Dutch land borders or seaports.

The Dutch association for intensive care units NVIC is expecting between 500 and a thousand new Covid-19 patients next week. In order to prepare, patients currently treated in ICUs in Noord-Brabant will be moved to hospitals in less affected areas, the association said in a statement.

On Wednesday evening, the NVIC reported that 177 coronavirus patients were being treated in ICU. The association did not give a reason for the expected spike.

Tilburg and Breda, the two cities in the Netherlands home to the most patients with coronavirus, were also the two cities with the biggest increase in patients since Sunday. Both cities are located in the Noord-Brabant province, where at least 554 of the country's 1,413 patients reside. 

The patient data released by the RIVM showed that 249 of the country's 355 municipalities are home to at least one coronavirus patient. All 12 provinces in the Netherlands now have at least 10 people who have been screened by health officials and diagnosed with the virus. 

A cheerful, smiling blond woman named Dee walked out of coffeeshop Nogal Wiedes in Amsterdam Centrum having purchased a gram of hash just before the government's new emergency measures to combat the coronavirus pandemic took effect. The policy was introduced at about 5:30 p.m. on Sunday, and included a mandate that all restaurants, bars, cafes, fitness centers, saunas, sex clubs, and coffeeshops close from 6 p.m. on Sunday through April 6.

Another 176 people tested positive for the Covid-19 variant of coronavirus since Saturday, the second largest single-day increase in coronavirus patients in the Netherlands. It brings the country's total number of positive tests to 1,135.

"As of yesterday, eight patients died from COVID-19, ages 59 to 94. Most are over 70 years old and had underlying symptoms," public health agency RIVM said on Sunday. "In total, 20 people have now died from the illness. A total of 162 patients were or have been hospitalized."

A total of 959 people in the Netherlands have tested positive for the coronavirus strain which causes Covid-19, figures released on Saturday by public health agency RIVM show. It was an increase of 155, or 16 percent, over the 804 positive tests reported on Friday. That day set the country's benchmark for the largest single-day increase in patients at 190, and the smaller increase on Saturday is likely because of a policy shift about who gets tested in the Netherlands.