The Netherlands: Total coronavirus cases quadruple in a week to 4,204; Death toll reaches 179

 Some 43 coronavirus patients died in the Netherlands since Saturday, with the nation now mourning the loss of 179 people, public health agency RIVM said on Sunday. The agency also announced that another 573 tested positive for the virus, pushing the total number of diagnosed patients to 4,204, nearly four-times the number of patients recorded on March 15.

Just one week ago, the total number of patients in the Netherlands was 1,077. By that date, a total of 20 people who tested positive for the virus had died, a figure which has increased by 800 percent in the past seven days.

The dead ranged in age from 57 to 97, a change from the range of 63 to 95 years of age reported by the agency on Friday.

Another 152 were identified as being treated in hospital since Saturday. The number of people that have required hospitalization since the first patient in the Netherlands was diagnosed in February equaled 988.

On Saturday, there were 354 people being treated in intensive care units across the Netherlands, which has 1,150 ICU beds in total. The government said the total number of ICU beds could be quickly scaled up to 1,500, and another 500 could be created by reallocating resources like ventilators present at various clinics.

Noord-Brabant again saw the biggest increase in people testing positive, with 224 new patients raising its total to 1,404. Zuid-Holland demonstrated an increase of 99 people testing positive there, bringing that province's total to 585, while Noord-Holland (535) showed an increase of 71 patients. Overall, the percentage of the country's total patients resident in Noord-Brabant sat at about 33 percent, a slight increase from Saturday's figures. Ten days ago, Noord-Brabant was home to about 45 percent of coronavirus patients.

The Netherlands: Total coronavirus cases quadruple in a week to 4,204; Death toll reaches 179 | NL Times

EU Unity Needed More than Ever: EU leaders need to be communicating a shared vision to get us through the coronavirus crisis

The role of the European institutions has been seriously questioned during the past two weeks. As a passionate European, this hurts to see. Despite the efforts of the European Commission to help and to intervene in the crisis, member states have decided rather to take a national approach and to focus less on coordination and solidarity. The fact that the European institutions are not being seen as problem solvers tells a relevant and consequential story. Moreover, recent developments speak volumes about how much trust national leaders actually place - undeservingly - in the President of the European Commission, the commissioners and their teams.

The Commision has the opportunity to step up its communications game, since nobody else is really standing up for Europe (locally as well as globally) in these critical times. Before we achieve “Global Europe,” let us secure “Community Europe.” The Commission should act without expecting any further mandate since Europe is, as Emmanuel Macron put it on Monday in regard to France, "at war." The continent is now, after all, the new global "epicentre" of COVID-19, so communication will be paramount and the way the EU does so on key issues will matter.

First, they should concentrate on EU values and delivery amid health concerns. More important than the political relations between member states and the European institutions is the sentiment that European solidarity is as scarce as medical masks and scrubs. The initial response to the Italian call for help is not something Europe should be proud of. The option overwhelmingly embraced by national governments to close borders also highlights the difficulty of coordination at the EU level: when panic comes, we go national. Maybe expectations are too high and the crisis too deep, but, at the end of the day, what remains is the perception that every country is on its own. Perhaps this impression is wrong or will be changed as events unfold. But this should be part of a serious conversation about what European solidarity means in good and, more importantly, bad times. Here again, the European Commission - and empathically, its leader - should lead in the months to come. In times of crisis, people follow examples: think Churchill (alas, Brexit!) not chilling out.

Second, the economy. More broadly, the entire debacle over medical products and equipment brings a key question about economic globalisation and global value chains. The COVID-19 pandemic brings to the fore the idea that Europe cannot externalise everything - a reframing of strategic autonomy to include this is in order. Maintaining production capacity and facilities for essential products is fundamental, and here the strategic interest is more important than the generous principles of open trade and free markets. It is hard to say what will be the dominant view at the end of the crisis, but, at this moment, everyone is asking for expansion of the State and for more state interventions, putting the EU and more widely, the liberal democratic economic model, under stress.

Read more at: EU leaders need to be communicating a shared vision to get us through the coronavirus crisis ǀ View | Euronews

Netherlands ranked sixth happiest country in the world

The Netherlands is
ranked the world’s sixth happiest country in the latest World Happiness
Report.

Although the country is once again one of the jolliest in the world, it
has slipped one place since last year, and is – according to the report
based on data from the Gallup World Poll – slightly less contented than
it was between 2008 and 2012.

However, only in Finland (first), Denmark, Switzerland, Iceland and
Norway are people happier.

The study assesses factors including the healthy life expectancy, social
support, freedom and average income in the countries, alongside the
levels of corruption, trust, generosity and people’s own ‘life
evaluation’ – which includes their personal feeling of safety.

The Netherlands is categorised alongside ‘Nordic countries’ and the
researchers say that it does better than Europe as a whole because of
levels of social and institutional trust, as well as social connection.
However, as in some other developed highly economies, people feel less
happy in Dutch cities than they do in rural areas.


Read more at DutchNews.nl:

The Netherlands is
ranked the world’s sixth happiest country in the latest World Happiness
Report.

Although the country is once again one of the jolliest in the world, it
has slipped one place since last year, and is – according to the report
based on data from the Gallup World Poll – slightly less contented than
it was between 2008 and 2012.

However, only in Finland (first), Denmark, Switzerland, Iceland and
Norway are people happier.

The study assesses factors including the healthy life expectancy, social
support, freedom and average income in the countries, alongside the
levels of corruption, trust, generosity and people’s own ‘life
evaluation’ – which includes their personal feeling of safety.

The Netherlands is categorised alongside ‘Nordic countries’ and the
researchers say that it does better than Europe as a whole because of
levels of social and institutional trust, as well as social connection.
However, as in some other developed highly economies, people feel less
happy in Dutch cities than they do in rural areas.


Read more at DutchNews.nl:

The Netherlands is ranked the world’s sixth happiest country in the latest World Happiness Report.

Although the country is once again one of the jolliest in the world, it has slipped one place since last year, and is – according to the report based on data from the Gallup World Poll – slightly less contented than it was between 2008 and 2012.

However, only in Finland (first), Denmark, Switzerland, Iceland and Norway are people happier. The study assesses factors including the healthy life expectancy, social support, freedom and average income in the countries, alongside the levels of corruption, trust, generosity and people’s own ‘life evaluation’ – which includes their personal feeling of safety.

The Netherlands is categorised alongside ‘Nordic countries’ and the researchers say that it does better than Europe as a whole because of levels of social and institutional trust, as well as social connection.

However, as in some other developed highly economies, people feel less happy in Dutch cities than they do in rural areas.

Read more at: Netherlands ranked sixth happiest country in the world - DutchNews.nl

The Netherlands: Blood banks to test Covid-19 herd immunity in Netherlands: report

Using a new blood test, researchers from the Dutch blood banks under Sanquin will carry out a national population screening for coronavirus Covid-19. The aim is to find out how widely the virus is spread and how quickly society is building up immunity against it, AD reports. The researchers will test the blood of thousands of blood and plasma donors to find out whether those

Read more at:
https://nltimes.nl/2020/03/19/blood-banks-test-covid-19-herd-immunity-netherlands-report

Netherlands: Closes Sex Shops, Cannabis Cafes Due To Coronavirus; Bike Shops Stay Open

In an effort to prevent the spread of novel coronavirus the Netherlands is joining other European countries by closing all schools and many cafes, announced Dutch health minister Bruno Bruins in a televised news conference on March 15.

Sex clubs, cannabis cafes, saunas, and some shops will be shuttered from 6pm on March 15, and Bruins said it is likely they will not be allowed to reopen until April 6 at the earliest. Bicycle shops—an essential service in the “bicycle kingdom”—are not part of the closure plans.

Meanwhile, leisure cycling is facing restrictions in Spain and Italy.

Read more: Netherlands Closes Sex Shops, Cannabis Cafes Due To Coronavirus; Bike Shops Stay Open

Fast Food and Corona Virus: McDonald's shifts to take-out only mode over coronavirus

McDonald's Corp. said late Monday it was turning its U.S. company-owned restaurants into take-out only in the wake of the COVID-19 coronavirus beginning...

Read more at:
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/mcdonalds-shifts-to-take-out-only-mode-over-coronavirus-2020-03-16

The Netherlands on lockdown: schools, cafes and sports clubs shut

All schools and daycare centres in the Netherlands are to be shut from Monday until at least April 6 in an effort to prevent the spread of coronavirus, ministers decided on Sunday after a crisis meeting with health experts and education officials. In addition, cafes, restaurants, sex clubs, cannabis cafes, saunas and sports clubs will all close their doors at 6pm on Sunday for three weeks, health minister Bruno Bruins said in a televised news conference.

The move is a u-turn on Friday’s position, when the government said that schools and daycare centres should remain open so that essential workers can continue to do their jobs.

Read more at: The Netherlands on lockdown: schools, cafes and sports clubs shut - DutchNews.nl