EU Travel Restrictions: The Netherlands to stay red on European coronavirus risk map for one more week

The Netherlands will likely remain red on the European coronavirus map for one week longer, AD reported. This means that restrictions against travelers from the Netherlands will continue to apply in a number of countries, including Germany, France and Norway.

Read more at: The Netherlands to stay red on European coronavirus risk map for one more week | NL Times

The Netherlands: Dutch coronavirus average hits two-week low, but Covid hospital total still rising

New data from the RIVM showed that another 4,665 people tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus infection, a figure which has not below five thousand since July 7. That pushed the seven-day moving average down 11 percent in a day to 6,492.

Read more at: Dutch coronavirus average hits two-week low, but Covid hospital total still rising | NL Times

Netherlands to Launch EU Digital COVID Passport on July 1

The Dutch Government has announced that the country will introduce the Digital COVID Passport in order to facilitate travel within the European Union amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Read more at: Netherlands to Launch EU Digital COVID Passport on July 1 - SchengenVisaInfo.com

Netherlands offers free herring as Covid jab incentive - by Jon Henley

After Russia offered cars, Washington state spliffs, Indonesia live chickens and Hong Kong the chance of a £1.2m apartment, the latest country to reward people who show up for their Covid shots is the Netherlands – with soused herring.

Early batches of Hollandse nieuwe, or new-season Dutch herring, a traditional delicacy consumed to the tune of 75m a year, are being distributed to vaccination centres around the country as an encouragement for people to get their jabs.

Read more at: Netherlands offers free herring as Covid jab incentive | Netherlands | The Guardian

EU: Coronavirus ′still has the upper hand,′ warns WHO Europe head

The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned European countries against becoming complacent in their efforts to put an end to the coronavirus pandemic.

Across the continent, governments have been increasingly easing pandemic-related restrictions as new case numbers in the region continue their downward trend. More social gatherings, sports events and travel across borders are also being permitted.

Read more at: Coronavirus ′still has the upper hand,′ warns WHO Europe head | News | DW | 17.06.2021

Coronavirus news: : Hungary to produce China′s Sinopharm jab

The Hungarian goverment on Monday announced plans to produce the Chinese-developed Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine locally.

Hungary is the only EU country to inoculate its citizens with the Chinese jab after domestic regulators approved its use.

Speaking in China, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said officials would open a planned €157 million ($193 million) vaccine plant in the eastern town of Debrecen.

Read more at Coronavirus digest: Hungary to produce China′s Sinopharm jab | News | DW | 31.05.2021

USA: CDC Reports 2 More Infant DEATHS Following Experimental COVID Injections During Clinical Trials

The CDC released more data in their Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) today, and it included two new deaths of infants age 2 and age 1.

While none of the COVID injections have emergency use authorization for children under the age of 17 yet, there are ongoing trials with children being injected with the experimental shots as young as 6 months old.

One of the infants who died was apparently in a Pfizer trial, while the other one was apparently in a Moderna trial.

Read more at: CDC Reports 2 More Infant DEATHS Following Experimental COVID Injections During Clinical Trials

The Netherlands: Bees in the Netherlands trained to detect COVID-19 infections- by Bart Biesemans

utch researchers have trained bees, which have an unusually keen sense of smell, to identify samples infected with COVID-19, a finding they said could cut waiting times for test results to just seconds.

To train the bees, scientists in the bio-veterinary research laboratory at Wageningen University gave them sugary water as a reward after showing them samples infected with COVID-19. They would get no reward after being shown a non-infected sample.

Read more at: Bees in the Netherlands trained to detect COVID-19 infections | Reuters

Coronavirus Vaccine: Pfizer vaccine sofar effective against Variants says developer

One of the people behind the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine says he has yet to see any evidence that emerging variants of the disease have found a way to defeat it.

Dr. Ugur Sahin, who founded BioNTech with his wife Dr. Özlem Türeci, told CBC News Network's Power & Politics today that scientists have two main concerns when it comes to variants of the COVID-19 virus.

Read more at: Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine not troubled by variants so far, says CEO | CBC News

The Netherlands: Balancing act: Dutch PM eases lockdown amid infection rise - by Mike Corder

Dutch caretaker Prime Minister Mark Rutte announced a significant easing in his country's months-long coronavirus lockdown Tuesday, calling it a delicate balancing act as infections remain stubbornly high.

The decision to cautiously relax restrictions reflects difficult choices being made in many countries as lockdown fatigue grows even as positive cases keep rising.

Read more at: Balancing act: Dutch PM eases lockdown amid infection rise - ABC News

EU Coronavirus - Vaccine: EU puts faith in Pfizer jab with plan for 1.8 billion doses - "Too little, too late"??

The EU has announced plans to buy 1.8 billion doses of the BioNTech-Pfizer vaccine through 2023. The bloc is also bringing forward shorter-term Pfizer deliveries after suspending orders for the Johnson & Johnson.

On Wednesday, European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen said the EU planned to order 1.8 billion doses of the BioNTech-Pfizer vaccine by 2023.

Von der Leyen said Brussels had full confidence in the technology behind the Pfizer vaccine. The manufacturing process used for the Pfizer product — dependent on mRNA — is different then the one behind the Oxford-AstraZeneca jab, which uses a cold virus to transport a segment of the coronavirus to the recipients' cells.

Read more at: EU puts faith in Pfizer jab with plan for 1.8 billion doses | Europe| News and current affairs from around the continent | DW | 14.04.2021

The Netherlands: Dutch lockdown measures remain until at least April 28, ANP says

The Dutch government on Sunday dashed hopes of an early easing of lockdown, saying a night-time curfew and other restrictions would remain until at least April 28 as daily infections rose to a two-week high.

Read more at: Dutch lockdown measures remain until at least April 28, ANP says | Reuters

The Netherlands: Coronavirus Pandemic: Netherlands Extends Travel Ban Until May 15

The Netherlands’ government has decided to extend the advice against travelling abroad for its citizens, until May 15, after taking into account the current infection rate of the Coronavirus in foreign countries.

The decision is an additional preventive measure imposed by the Dutch government to avoid travelling during the Easter holidays, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.

In addition, the country’s administration has also decided to extend its restrictive measures after a rise in the number of COVID-19 infections.

Read more at: Netherlands Extends Travel Ban Until May 15 - SchengenVisaInfo.com

EU - Vaccination Certificate: TravelFirst glimpse of new EU 'vaccine certificate' for summer-by Elena Sánchez Nicolás

The European Commission unveiled on Wednesday (17 March) its common approach to vaccine certificates to ease free travel within the bloc - amid concerns over the slow and unequal rollout of vaccines across member states.

The announcement comes after tourism-reliant member states, led by Greece, and industry players like the International Air Transport Association, urged the EU to establish a form of vaccination proof ahead of the summer holiday season. <

Read more at: First glimpse of new EU 'vaccine certificate' for summer

The Netherlands - racial Reckoning: Caribbean racial reckoning: Sint Maarten confronts Netherlands over coronavirus aid - by Anthony Faiola and Ana Vanessa Herrero

Inside the prime minister’s office in the Caribbean nation of Sint Maarten, the walls of paradise were closing in.

In the former Dutch colony renowned for fish stews and rum cocktails on Great Bay Beach, the coronavirus pandemic had ground tourism to a halt, sparking a financial crisis akin to the aftermath of a hurricane. By December, Prime Minister Silveria Jacobs said, public coffers were so low that she didn’t know how she could continue to cover the government payroll.

She needed a financial lifeline. Four thousand miles away, Mother Holland was prepared to throw one — but with strings attached. What followed would be a racial reckoning in the Caribbean: a bitter dispute between Sint Maarten’s Dutch overseers in Europe and local politicians representing an island populated predominantly by Afro-Caribbeans and other people of color.

Reas more at: Caribbean racial reckoning: Sint Maarten confronts Netherlands over coronavirus aid - The Washington Post

The Netherlands: Dutch dance lovers offered lockdown relief at test event

Dance music lovers in Amsterdam were offered a short relief from COVID-19 lockdown on Saturday, treated to their first live show in over a year while serving as guinea pigs in a research project

A total of 1,300 people were allowed at a carefully orchestrated test event in Amsterdam’s biggest music hall, the ZiggoDome, which in normal times has a capacity of up to 17,000.

Read more at: Dutch dance lovers offered lockdown relief at test event | Reuters

EU: Covid: What’s the problem with the EU vaccine rollout?

The European Union has been criticised for the slow pace of coronavirus vaccinations in its member states.

It has introduced export controls on vaccines produced in the EU after its rollout was hit by supply problems and delays. They were used for the first time on 4 March, when Italy blocked a shipment of 250,000 doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine to Australia.

The scheme, set up in June 2020, allows the EU to negotiate the purchase of vaccines on behalf of its member states. It says this can help reduce costs and avoid competition between them.

Member states do not have to join the scheme, but all 27 EU countries chose to do so.

Read more at: Covid: What’s the problem with the EU vaccine rollout? - BBC News

Netherlands: Explosion at Covid test center in Noord-Holland town

An explosive went off at a GGD coronavirus test center in the Noord-Holland town of Bovenkarspel on Wednesday morning. No one was hurt, the police said on Twitter.

The explosion happened at around 6:55 a.m. at the test center on Middenweg. The police specifically said that an explosive went off, indicating that the blast was intentional.

Read more at: Explosion at Covid test center in Noord-Holland town | NL Times

Vaccine nationalism won’t defeat the pandemic – by Sharan Burrow

Scientists are performing magnificently in developing vaccines against the SARS-CoV-2 virus with unprecedented speed, but BigPharma is calling the shots and governments are being left to squabble over what are, to begin with, inadequate supplies. Vaccine nationalism is rearing its ugly head, with devastating consequences for poorer countries and eventually for the whole world.

The moral and humanitarian case for fair access to vaccination is obvious and so is the public-health case: where vaccines are scarce, there will be more cases, each one an opportunity for the virus to continue to mutate, as all RNA viruses do. This means new variants could emerge which are different enough from the original virus that existing vaccines won’t work against it them. If those circulate widely, people who have been vaccinated will once again be susceptible to severe illness and death.

Read more at: Vaccine nationalism won’t defeat the pandemic – Sharan Burrow

Coronavirus and warmer weather: Why we need to rethink COVID-19 risk as the weather warms up

It's been almost a year of "Stay home. Do nothing. Save lives." And people are tired.

Pandemic fatigue has turned to pandemic restlessness as the weather shows signs of improving and vaccines gradually roll out across the country.

Hope is on the horizon, but if last spring is any predictor of what lies ahead we can expect to see Canadians flocking outdoors in search of safe ways to gather as temperatures rise.

Read more at: Why we need to rethink COVID-19 risk as the weather warms up | CBC News