The Netherlands: New Dutch government sworn in 10 months after last election

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte's fourth government was sworn in on Monday, a record 299 days after the last election and a year after his previous administration was forced to resign, with the coronavirus crisis looming over a big spending push.

The new coalition has promised generous spending on sustainable energy, housing, childcare and education, but will first have to deal with the health crisis as the Omicron variant has pushed coronavirus infections to record levels

Read more at: New Dutch government sworn in 10 months after last election | Reuters

The Netherlands shatters single-day coronavirus record with 35,000 infections reported

The Dutch public health institute was informed of nearly 35,000 new coronavirus infections in the Netherlands between Thursday and Friday morning. That was more than 10,000 higher than the previous record set just one day earlier. The RIVM said Friday's high figure also includes all of the data which was missing from its report on Thursday due to an IT error.

Despite the aberration caused by the missing data, the Netherlands was on pace to beat the previous record for most infections reported in a single week. The official statistic is calculated every seven-day period ending on Tuesday morning. The all-time record is 155,152, set during the last week of November 2021. Since the last report, a total of 84,244 coronavirus infections were registered by the RIVM, with four more days left to go in the week. The 2020 weekly record was 82,340, set in December of that year, but testing was not widely available in the Netherlands until June 2020.

Read more at: https://nltimes.nl/2022/01/07/netherlands-shatters-single-day-coronavirus-record-35000-infections-reported

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

WHO: Omicron is 'killing people' and should not be called 'mild', WHO warns

The head of the World Health Organisation (WHO) warned on Thursday against describing the Omicron variant as "mild" amid a "tsunami of cases" overwhelming health systems across the world.

"Last week, the highest number of COVID-19 cases were reported so far in the pandemic," Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters during a regular press briefing.

Read more at: Omicron is 'killing people' and should not be called 'mild', WHO warns | Euronews

Coronavirus: Caging the dragon: Research approach to COVID‐19–related thrombosis -

Netherlands. Within the consortium, clinical data of at least 5000 admitted COVID-19–infected individuals are available, including substantial collections of biobanked materials in an estimated 3000 people. In addition to considerable experience in preclinical and clinical thrombosis research, the consortium embeds virology-hemostasis research models within unique biosafety facilities to address fundamental questions on the interaction of virus with epithelial and vascular cells, in relation to the coagulation and inflammatory system. The DCTC has initiated a comprehensive research program to answer many of the current questions on the pathophysiology and best anticoagulant treatment of COVID-19–associated thrombotic complications. The research program was funded by grants of the Netherlands Thrombosis Foundation and the Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development. Here, we summarize the design and main aims of the research program.

Read more at: Caging the dragon: Research approach to COVID‐19–related thrombosis - Kruip - 2021 - Research and Practice in Thrombosis and Haemostasis - Wiley Online Library

Covid - no end in sight: Governments Worldwide Continue Imposing COVID Measures, 2 Years After Pandemic's Start

Exactly two years after the World Health Organization issued an alert about "a cluster of cases of pneumonia of unknown cause" in the central Chinese city of Wuhan that evolved into the global COVID-19 pandemic, the world is now struggling under the weight of the fast-moving omicron variant of the coronavirus that sparked the disease.

In Brazil, a surge of new COVID-19 cases driven by the omicron variant has prompted authorities in Rio de Janeiro to cancel its iconic Carnival street festival for the second consecutive year. <

Read more at: https://www.voanews.com/a/governments-worldwide-continue-imposing-covid-19-measures-two-years-after-pandemic-s-start-/6384416.html

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