The Netherlands: Thousands gather to oppose Dutch virus measures despite ban

Thousands of people in the Netherlands defied a ban on assembling and demonstrated Sunday against the Dutch government’s coronavirus lockdown measures, gathering on a central square before marching toward a park in Amsterdam.

Read more at: Thousands gather to oppose Dutch virus measures despite ban | AP News

Netherlands Announces Plan To Give People Up to Six Doses of COVID Vaccine

Hugo de Jonge, health minister of The Netherlands, has indicated the country could be preparing another three coronavirus booster vaccines.

De Jonge wrote a letter to his country's parliament Wednesday suggesting the Netherlands should consider additional rounds of booster vaccines to fight new variants, with two of these in 2022 and another shot in 2023.

Read more at: Netherlands Announces Plan To Give People Up to Six Doses of COVID Vaccine

The Netherlands: Dutch streets deserted as snap Christmas COVID lockdown starts

Dutch urban centres were largely deserted on Sunday as the country bega a snap lockdown that, aimed at stemming an expected COVID-19 surge caused by the fast-spreading Omicron variant, left people's Christmas plans in disarray.

Read more at: Dutch streets deserted as snap Christmas COVID lockdown starts | Reuters

The Netherlands: Covid: Dutch go into Christmas lockdown over Omicron wave

The Netherlands has announced a strict lockdown over Christmas amid concerns over the Omicron coronavirus variant.

Non-essential shops, bars, gyms hairdressers and other public venues will be closed until at least mid-January. Two guests per household will be allowed - four over the holidays.

Prime Minister Mark Rutte said the measures were "unavoidable".

Countries across Europe have been tightening restrictions as the heavily mutated variant spreads.

The new rules in the Netherlands - the strictest to have been announced over Omicron so far - come into force on Sunday.

"I stand here tonight in a sombre mood And a lot of people watching will feel that way too," Mr Rutte told a news conference on Saturday. "To sum it up in one sentence, the Netherlands will go back into lockdown from tomorrow."

Read more at: Covid: Dutch go into Christmas lockdown over Omicron wave - BBC News

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

The Netherlands to build new nuclear plants under coalition deal – by Karl Mathiesen

The Netherlands will build two nuclear power stations in a bid to hit more ambitious climate goals, according to the new government's coalition agreement, published Wednesday.

Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s liberal VVD, the centrist D66, the Christian Democratic CDA and the Christian Union reached a coalition deal on Monday, ending nine months of coalition talks and paving the way for Rutte to serve a fourth term.

Read more at: The Netherlands to build new nuclear plants under coalition deal – POLITICO

Grand Prix Auto Racing: Dutch Max Verstappen beats Lewis Hamilton to F1 title on last lap

ed Bull driver Max Verstappen won a dramatic Abu Dhabi Grand Prix by overtaking Lewis Hamilton on the last lap to clinch the F1 world title in a remarkable conclusion to the season.

Hamilton had seemed on course for victory and an eighth world title in total, but a late safety car allowed Verstappen to pit for fresh tires as he snatched the lead from the Mercedes man on the last lap.

Read more: Max Verstappen beats Lewis Hamilton to F1 title on last lap — RT Sport News

Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte Set to Clinch Coalition Deal - by Diederik Baazil-

March’s general election consolidated Rutte’s VVD as the Netherlands’ biggest party bufragmented parliament complicated the coalition math. Negotiations have dragged on ever since, amid a coronavirus crisis that hit the country hard.

The government will likely be sworn in this January.

Traditionally, the second-largest party takes the finance ministry, meaning that Christian Democrat Wopke Hoekstra won’t keep his job as finance minister.

Read more at: Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte Set to Clinch Coalition Deal - Bloomberg

The Dutch style of government: good for dykes, bad for covid

The Netherlands has not decided yet if it will join a U.S. diplomatic boycott of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games, Dutch Foreign Minister Ben Knapen said on Tuesday.

Read more at: Netherlands undecided on diplomatic boycott of Beijing Olympics -government | Reuters

EU: The Netherlands and Australia find the omicron variant as curbs spread

The Netherlands confirmed 13 cases of the new omicron variant of the coronavirus on Sunday and Australia found two as the countries half a world apart became the latest to detect it in travelers arriving from southern Africa.

A raft of curbs being imposed by nations around the world as they scramble to slow the variant's spread also grew, with Israel deciding Sunday to bar entry to foreign nationals in the toughest move so far.

Confirmed or suspected cases of the new variant have already emerged in several European countries, in Israel and in Hong Kong, just days after it was identified by researchers in South Africa. The "act first, ask questions later" approach reflected growing alarm about the emergence of a potentially more contagious variant nearly two years into a pandemic that has killed more than 5 million people, upended lives and disrupted economies across the globe.

Read more at: The Netherlands and Australia find the omicron variant as curbs spread : NPR

The Netherlands holds off on restrictions for the unvaccinated — for now – by Thibault Spirlet

The Dutch government on Monday decided not to move ahead with imposing restrictions on people who haven't been vaccinated against COVID-19 amid political opposition to the move and pressure on the country's health care system.

The cabinet was on December 14 due to discuss the measures, known as 2G, which would require people to show a certificate to prove they are vaccinated or recovered from COVID-19 to access the hospitality industry and public events.

Critics of 2G say it is aimed at creating an incentive to get vaccinated but is not effective at limiting the spread of COVID-19, as even people who have been jabbed can suffer a breakthrough infection and infect others. Those who have previously been infected with COVID-19 also appear to be vulnerable to the new Omicron strain, designated a variant of concern by the World Health Organization.

Read more at: The Netherlands holds off on restrictions for the unvaccinated — for now – POLITICO

The Netherlands: Dutch say 14 air passengers from S. Africa with Omicron were vaccinated - by Toby Sterling

Dutch health authorities on Thursday said most of the 62 people who tested positive for COVID-19 after arriving on two flights from South Africa last week had been vaccinated, lending weight to a call for pre-flight testing regardless of vaccination status.

In addition, all 14 passengers who were later found to have been infected with the Omicron variant were vaccinated, health officials said on Thursday.

Read more at: Dutch say 14 air passengers from S. Africa with Omicron were vaccinated | Reuters

Coronavirus: Omicron was in Netherlands before South Africa raised alarm about new coronavirus variant - Perry Stein

The omicron variant had a foothold in multiple countries in Europe before travel restrictions were imposed, new genetic sequencing data has revealed.

Dutch officials said Tuesday that they had detected the variant, with its unusually high number of mutations, in a sample collected on Nov. 19 and another on Nov. 23 — well before Dutch authorities panicked over two flights from South Africa carrying infected passengers.

The earliest known cases are still from southern Africa. The first identified samples were collected Nov. 9, from a 34-year-old man and a 23-year-old man in Johannesburg, according to the GISAID global database. On Nov. 11, five

Read more at: Omicron was in Netherlands before South Africa raised alarm about new coronavirus variant - The Washington Post

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

Netherlands Finds 61 Covid Cases on South Africa Flights - by Claire Moses

Some 61 passengers arriving in two flights from South Africa tested positive for Coronavirus and were quaranteed in the Netherlands.

Read more at: Netherlands Finds 61 Covid Cases on South Africa Flights - The New York Times

‘The Netherlands: A lot of work to do’: Dutch government formation talks drag on for record 226 days

Government formation talks in the Netherlands have become the longest on record, 226 days after the 17 March elections delivered a fractured political landscape that made parties more reluctant than ever to compromise.

Dutch government coalitions often take months to form, but this year’s post-election talks have been especially drawn out. For months, parties failed to even move beyond the question of who would be allowed at the negotiation table.

Meanwhile, pressing matters such as climate change, health care and the strained housing market have been left untouched.

“It’s remarkable,” said political historian and cabinet formation expert Carla van Baalen. “We have never seen a situation in which no real talks were held for months following the elections.”

Read more at: ‘A lot of work to do’: Dutch government formation talks drag on for record 226 days | Netherlands | The Guardian

The Netherlands: EU wants calm amid virus protests; rioters called 'idiots'

In the face of demonstrations across much of Europe protesting tough COVID-19 measures over the past days, authorities on Monday pleaded for patience, calm and a willingness to get a vaccine shot in the arm as infections spike upward again.

And for those who abused the protests to foment violence, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte just called them “idiots.”

Protest marches from Zagreb to Rome and from Vienna to Brussels and Rotterdam, bringing tens of thousands out, all had one message from a coronavirus-weary crowd — we’ve had enough!

“Not able to work where you want work, to be where you want to be. That’s not what we stand for, that’s not freedom,” said Eveline Denayer, who was at Sunday’s march in Brussels, which drew a crowd of over 35,000.

“We live in Western Europe and we just want to be free, how we were before,” she said.

Read more at: EU wants calm amid virus protests; rioters called 'idiots' | AP News

The Netherlands:Rotterdam police open fire as Covid protest turns into ‘orgy of violence’

In what the Dutch city’s mayor described as an “orgy of violence”, crowds of several hundred rioters orched cars, set off fireworks and threw rocks at police during the protests on Friday evening. Police responded with warning shots and water cannon.

Police said on Twitter on Saturday that 51 people had been arrested, about half of whom were under 18.

“Three rioters were wounded when they were hit by bullets, they remain in hospital,” police added, in an update after earlier reporting two wounded.

Read more at: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/nov/19/the-netherlands-rotterdam-police-open-fire-as-covid-protest-turns-violent?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

The Netherlands aims to keep its schools open, even as cases soar among young people - by Claire Moses-

The coronavirus’s rapid spread through schools in the Netherlands has prompted some experts to call for extending this winter’s Christmas break. In an article on Thursday, one immunologist, Ger Rijkers, told the newspaper Algemeen Dagblad, “Children are little virus factories and infect each other as well as adults.”

Read more at: The Netherlands aims to keep its schools open, even as cases soar among young people. - The New York Times

The Netherlands: In the Netherlands, a foray into cocktail history - by Liza Weisstuch

The ferry ride from Rotterdam to Dordrecht is only an hour long, but it seems to take you centuries away. Boat seems the most appropriate way to travel to the oldest city in Holland, which thrived for centuries thanks to its location at the intersection of three rivers. Wood, grains and genever — a traditional Dutch spirit flavored with juniper — were among the goods local merchants shipped out to the rest of the world. In the 1870s, some of the genever was made by Simon Rutte, whose distillery still stands, seven generations later, in a square about a 15-minute walk from the harbor along winding cobblestone streets.

From the outside of this modest three-story building, you’d never imagine the extent of what goes on in what you might call the flavor factory inside. In the tasting room, adorned with vintage family photos, there are about two dozen dark-glass spritz bottles, each labeled hazelnoot, Kaffir lime, oranje-bloesem and an assortment of other fruits, nuts, herbs, flowers and spices. They’re the aromas of the individual distillates that are blended to craft various genevers, such as Old Simon, the founder’s recipe involving roasted hazelnuts and almonds, cinnamon, mace and celery.

“It’s the broadest category in the world,” said Myriam Hendrickx, master distiller and former food scientist, of genever. “You have all elements from gin in terms of having flavors from so many botanicals, and all the variables in whiskey, grain-wise and aging-wise. Plus you can age it or not.”

Read more at: In the Netherlands, a foray into cocktail history - The Washington Post