Today, 05:50 • 5 minutes reading time
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REGION – Follow the most important corona news of Wednesday 24 November here.
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Early corona press conference on Friday
This Friday, outgoing Prime Minister Mark Rutte (VVD) and corona minister Hugo de Jonge (CDA) will give a new press conference. “A reduction in the number of infections must be forced,” De Jonge said on Wednesday afternoon. “The picture is gloomy and worrisome.”
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The Outbreak Management Team (OMT) will meet early on Wednesday evening. The cabinet will make a decision on any new corona measures on Friday, which will be presented in the evening during a new press conference.
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The intention was that the ‘persco’ would only take place on 3 December. Because the Netherlands has had more than 20,000 new corona infections daily for more than a week, the decision moment has been brought forward by a week.
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Booster shot elderly from 1937
The first people born in 1937 were invited to receive their booster shot. Some of the letters for this group, mostly 84-year-olds, were sent on Tuesday and Wednesday, according to RIVM.
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All people born in 1936 or earlier were already sent an invitation the days before.
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Education sources: two-week school closure is on the table
There is a very good chance that schools will be closed again. Education sources report this to De Telegraaf. According to insiders, it is an absolute emergency measure to bring down the corona infections. A large part of the current number of positive tests in the Netherlands is caused by students, who then transmit the virus to their parents and/or teachers.
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Schools would be closed for two weeks from next Monday. The children will receive distance education again during that period, just as with the two previous school closures. A majority of the House seems to support this decision.
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This is a striking change, since the Outbreak Management Team (OMT) informed the outgoing cabinet in its previous advice that schools absolutely had to remain open because another school closure would cause a lot of damage to children. The educational field is divided over a closure, partly due to the learning disadvantages that have already arisen due to distance education.
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Corona crisis causes run on tutoring
The corona crisis has caused a run on tutoring, leaving tutoring agencies with overcrowded schedules. At StudieBinck in The Hague, where tutoring and remedial teaching are given, things are also running smoothly. ‘The demand for tutoring has exploded in recent months,’ says owner Cansu Delikaya.
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Cabinet wants to use self-testing widely
The outgoing cabinet wants to widely use self-tests for people with corona complaints. Now that the GGDs are very busy and are reaching the limits of their testing capacity, self-testing should ensure that people take a test faster, and thus more corona infections are detected. The deployment of the self-tests must be completed by 3 December at the latest, Minister Hugo de Jonge (Public Health) wrote to the House of Representatives.
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The government is thus following an advice from the Outbreak Management Team (OMT), which states that ‘frequent and easily accessible self-testing can be an important addition to the current package’. The OMT recommends making the tests available free of charge, thereby making the threshold for people as low as possible.
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ECDC: Christmas can become a hotbed, measures needed quickly
If people visit each other around Christmas and the turn of the year, this could lead to a new wave of corona infections. The European health service ECDC warns about this. This calls on the member countries, including the Netherlands, to quickly introduce restrictions. They must also ensure that all people aged 40 and older can receive a booster shot as soon as possible.
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Mayor of The Hague wants exception to rules at the turn of the year
The turn of the year should become the exception to the corona rules if it is up to mayor Jan van Zanen of The Hague. Van Zanen wants the cabinet to look into the possibilities of allowing events in the evening during the turn of the year. That would mean that the bonfires on the beach and in the city can continue. The catering industry should also be able to stay open longer, according to the mayor.
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Again required to keep one and a half meters away
It is again mandatory to keep one and a half meters away. The cabinet has reintroduced the measure that disappeared at the end of September due to the still increasing number of corona infections. On Tuesday, the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) reported 153,957 positive corona tests in seven days. A week earlier, more than 110,000 infections were discovered.
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The measure to keep one and a half meters away does not apply to people who belong to one household. Also in places such as the cinema or the restaurant where the corona ticket has to be shown, keeping a distance is not mandatory. The measure does not apply to higher and secondary vocational education, nor to sports and other hobbies where keeping a distance is not possible. In most cases, face masks are compulsory for contact professions such as hairdressers, physiotherapists and driving lessons. In shops, distance must be kept and a mouth mask must be worn.
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Expansion of schemes on the table during debate on support package
On Wednesday, the House of Representatives will discuss the support measures that the cabinet has reintroduced due to the tightened corona rules. A large majority now also advocates the return of the NOW wage support scheme if the measures last longer.
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The cabinet previously announced that it would allocate 1.3 billion euros in the third quarter to support companies after the recent corona measures. Companies that see their turnover fall by 30 percent can count on a Fixed Charges Allowance (TVL).
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Total student debt is rising due to pandemic
Many more young people have started studying and as a result the joint student debt has increased further this year. The cause is the coronavirus. According to the CBS statistics agency, the pass rates were exceptionally high in the 2019/2020 school year, partly because the written final exam was cancelled. Moreover, a gap year was hardly possible and young people therefore immediately went to study.
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The total student debt of current and former students has risen to 24.4 billion euros at the beginning of 2021. That is 1.6 billion euros more than a year earlier, or 7 percent. In total 1.6 million Dutch people have a student debt. The average student loan has not increased for the first time in five years and remains at 15,200 euros.
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In the 2019 and 2020 school year, almost all exam students took home a diploma. The written final exam was canceled due to the coronavirus outbreak. The final grade of each subject was therefore determined on the basis of the school exams.
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Coronakaart
Check here how many infections there are in your municipality.
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