LIVE | The pharmaceutical sector wants a place in the OMT | Inland

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7.00 – Pharmacists want space in OMT

The pharmaceutical sector wants a seat in the Outbreak Management Team (OMT). Marc Kaptein, medical director of Pfizer Netherlands and chairman of the Dutch Association for Pharmaceutical Medicine (NVFG), tells the AD that future pandemics could be better combated this way. OMT chairman Jaap van Dissel sees little point in the idea.

The NVFG chairman emphasizes in the interview that these are experts from the sector and not people with commercial positions. “I think our sector deserves a stronger voice. We have so much knowledge in-house. Of course we have financial interests, but we have to be able to adjust that. ”

Kaptein states that pharmaceutical companies have shown in the corona crisis that they are worthy of the trust of society by providing effective corona vaccines within a year. It bothers him that during the corona crisis the cabinet took advice from “a whole spaghetti mess” of organizations, but that the NVFG was not involved in anything. “That has led to a delay in the vaccination campaign anyway.”

The OMT chairman, RIVM boss Jaap van Dissel, says that a place on the team “is not a prize you can win. Moreover, I think you have to be careful not to overhaul everything because of this pandemic. ” Minister of Health Hugo de Jonge notes that the vaccination campaign, in which pharmaceuticals play an important role, is not the responsibility of the OMT.

Kaptein, however, sticks to his position. “I think the OMT is composed of the RIVM, experts and the chairpersons of professional associations that play a role in the fight against infectious diseases, such as the general practitioners, the paediatricians and the microbiologists. We as NVFG could also belong to that. ”

6.55 – Australian Brisbane is locked

The Australian city of Brisbane will go into lockdown for three days after four new local corone infections were identified on Monday morning, the Queensland government announced. The state is concerned that the British variant of the coronavirus is spreading in the city, of which seven cases were found at the beginning of this month. The new infections are also of the British variant.

The temporary lockdown will take effect on Monday at 5:00 PM local time. People should only leave home when they have essential work to do, to run errands, to perform care duties, or to exercise. Schools must close their doors.

In the rest of the state of Queensland, where more than 5 million people live, residents are again required to wear masks in public and no more than 30 people are allowed to gather at home. “We must do this now to avoid a longer lockdown,” said Queensland Prime Minister Annastacia Palaszczuk.

6.45 – ‘Significantly fewer German corona infections reported

The number of new corona cases in Germany is considerably lower than the day before. The Robert Koch Institute (RKI), the German counterpart of the RIVM, registered 9,872 new corona infections on Monday morning. The day before, 17,176 new cases were reported, compared to about 20,472 on Saturday.

In the past 24 hours, another 43 people died from the effects of Covid-19. The corona virus has now claimed at least 75,931 lives in Germany.

Germany is experiencing a significant resurgence of the corona virus, mainly driven by the so-called British variant. However, the Berlin government and state leaders increasingly disagree on how to contain the outbreak. The lockdown in Germany will run until April 18, but the decision to limit the number of social contacts around Easter with measures was withdrawn by Merkel on Wednesday after a storm of criticism.

According to the chancellor, more restrictions are needed to stop the corona virus in time, for example further limiting the number of allowed contacts, setting a curfew and focusing on working from home.

6.30 – Chile postpones elections

Chilean President Sebastian Pinera has asked Congress to postpone the election of the convention drafting the new constitution until May. This is due to the large increase in the number of corona infections. Elections are scheduled for April for a so-called convention consisting of 155 citizens, who will draft the new constitution.

Chileans voted by a large majority last October for a new constitution, to be drawn up by citizens. The current constitution dates back to the days of the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, who was in power from 1973 to 1990. In a referendum, about 78 percent voted in favor of changing the constitution.

In total, the corona virus has already been diagnosed in more than 977,000 Chileans. The corona pandemic has already claimed the lives of more than 22,000 inhabitants.

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