The Netherlands: Inside the surreal Dutch lockdown - by Senay Boztas

Sitting respectfully in our ‘pews’, we put our hands together… and clap. This is not a service but a comedy night. And Amsterdam’s newest ‘church’ is really a theatre for debate and cultural centre in disguise. Incensed by the illogical nature of the current Dutch coronavirus restrictions, Yoeri Albrecht, director of De Balie, last week changed the statutes of his organisation and registered it with the chamber of commerce as a faith-based movement: overnight, The Philosophical Society; the Community of Reason was born.

It is unlikely to be the last. His example, a group of Dutch mayors predicted wryly in an open letter to the government, is likely to mark the start of “an unprecedented religious revival in the coming weeks”.

The Netherlands has been in partial or full lockdown since November, primarily due to the pressure of patients with the Delta variant on the hospital system and one of Europe’s least efficient booster campaigns. But just over a week ago, the restrictions were loosened — albeit in a strikingly surreal fashion.

Read More at: Inside the surreal Dutch lockdown - UnHerd

The Netherlands,EU,Coronavirus,Lockdown,PM Mark Rutte,Confusing decissions,

The Netherlands was the first European country to go into lockdown as the highly contagious Omicron variant of the coronavirus spread to Europe. But it’s unlikely to be the first out.

A stalling vaccination booster campaign, combined with concerns that the rapid spread of Omicron could sideline essential workers in huge numbers, poses a dilemma for Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s new government: to reopen, or not to reopen?

“The amount of infections is taking on British proportions,” says epidemiologist Marino van Zelst, referring to the most recent number of infections being the highest recorded since the pandemic began.

Read more at: The Dutch went into Omicron lockdown fast; coming out could take longer – POLITICO

Dutch health experts advise a full lockdown to slow Omicron

The health experts advising the Netherlands' government on COVID-19 strategy have recommended the country go into a "strict" lockdown, Dutch media reported on Friday, just days after a partial lockdown was extended through January.

Read more at: Dutch health experts advise a full lockdown to slow Omicron -media | Reuters

COVID in Europe: Netherlands closes all non-essential businesses at 5pm

COVID-19 cases are on the rise again in various parts of Europe as the cold weather has affected the spread of the virus.

Countries on the Old Continent are attempting to curb the spike through various means - from a national lockdown in Austria, to limiting access to certain services elsewhere or pushing for an increase in vaccination rates.

Around 60% of people in Western Europe are fully immunised against COVID-19, but only about half as many are vaccinated in Eastern Europe.

Read more at: https://www.euronews.com/2021/11/26/covid-19-spike-felt-across-europe-as-vaccination-remains-stagnant

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: 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

The Netherlands: Dutch police clash with anti-lockdown rioters in two cities

Authorities on Sunday used water cannon and dogs in a square in central Amsterdam, where hundreds of people gathered during the curfew that began on Saturday, public television NOS reported. Videos showed police spraying people grouped against a wall of the Van Gogh Museum.

Read more at: Dutch police clash with anti-lockdown rioters in two cities | Coronavirus pandemic News | Al Jazeera

The Netherlands: Reactions to Rutte's 5-week coronavirus lockdown in the Netherlands

Speaking from his official office in The Hague, Prime Minister Mark Rutte addressed the people of the Netherlands and, before announcing the new measures that would place in the country under lockdown, delivered a speech that served to remind the public of the severity of the situation and the importance of following the rules.

Almost 8,4 million people tuned in to listen to what the Prime Minister had to say - the highest number of viewers ever garnered by a coronavirus press conference or speech. Nearly 90 percent of all the people who were watching TV on Monday evening were watching Rutte’s speech.

People may have been eager to hear what Rutte had to say, but how have people responded to the strict lockdown measures that have been introduced just before the Christmas holidays?

Read more at: Reactions to Rutte's 5-week coronavirus lockdown in the Netherlands

England lockdown: Boris Johnson issues new stay-at-home order

England will go into a new monthlong lockdown on Thursday, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced on Saturday.

Read more at: England lockdown: Boris Johnson issues new stay-at-home order | News | DW | 31.10.2020

The Netherlands: Experts call for shorter and sharper coronavirus lockdown in the Netherlands - by Victoria Séveno

The Red Team is advising the Dutch government to put the Netherlands into a stricter lockdown as soon as possible, closing everything - including schools - for two weeks and only leaving supermarkets and pharmacies open for necessities. Wim Schellekens, former inspector at the Health Care Inspectorate and member of the Red Team, told RTL Nieuws: “If we opt for a strong lockdown now, we can resume our life somewhat normally in a few weeks.”

Read more at: Experts call for shorter and sharper coronavirus lockdown in the Netherlands

Netherlands lockdown looming if people ignore Covid rules: Security boss

With coronavirus infections continuing to rise fast, and hospitalizations for Covid-19 growing at an exponential rate, lockdown measures will be needed to get the health problem under control if people do not do a better job of maintaining a safe distance from each other, said Nijmegen Mayor Hubert Bruls. In addition to his role as mayor, Bruls serves as the chair of the Gelderland-Zuid Security Region, one of eight regions added to the list of those at a "worrying" level with regard to the coronavirus crisis.

Read more at: https://nltimes.nl/

Overcoming the lockdown: EU looks to apps as way of easing virus lockdown

As the EU's economy reels from virus lockdowns, Brussels unveiled a proposed roadmap Wednesday to ease restrictions on life and businesses, relying in large part on smartphone tracking apps.

That technology aims to spot localized COVID-19 outbreaks in real-time. Already many individual European governments are on the verge of rolling out their own tracking apps.

But the European Commission is concerned those go-it-alone initiatives will provide incompatible data sets, useless for compiling a whole picture across the single market where people and goods are meant to move freely.

It is also worried these apps could fall foul of strong EU data privacy rules and Europeans' deep-seated wariness of technological prying.

"The aim is to get the single market back on track so that it can work properly," Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen told a videolink news conference as she unveiled the 16-page roadmap to phasing out lockdowns that have brought life to a standstill in many countries.

The document puts data collection and contact tracing at the top of its recommended measures, above expanding testing, reinforcing healthcare systems and providing more protective gear.

But it said the use of any apps should be "voluntary" and comply with personal data protection rules.

"Tracing close proximity between mobile devices should be allowed only on an anonymous and aggregated basis, without any tracking of citizens, and names of possibly infected persons should not be disclosed to other users," it said.

An EU official giving more details to journalists later called such apps "very useful to prevent localized flare-ups" of the virus.
 
But, he warned, "they will only work if citizens have full trust in those apps -- this is very important to stress"

Note EU-Digest: It is a good idea - and don't worry about your privacy on the internet, that has already been gone several year ago re: GPS, Bank Cards, Credit Cards, Phone cards etc., which carry just about all your private information.

Read more at: EU looks to apps as way of easing virus lockdown | News , World | THE DAILY STAR