A press conference was held in the Netherlands today with Prime Minister Rutte, Minister Bruins of the ministry of health and Jaap van Dissel, the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Control (RIVM). It’s all about the outbreak of COVID-19 in the country and more serious measures are now being taken.

According to van Dissel, there are new developments of the virus spreading throughout the country. The days of trying to prevent the spread of COVID-19 are now over- new, more measures are needed to mitigate coronavirus in the Netherlands.

These are the new measures:

The Dutch government has announced that all events will be cancelled if attendees total more than 100, including all sports events. This will be the case until the 31st of March. Football matches are cancelled, amateur matches are cancelled, church meetings are cancelled – worksshops and seminars at our offices are cancelled too. If you have an event, cancel it.

2. Stay at home if you have a cough, cold or fever. Only call the GP if your condition gets worse.

3. Work from home as much as possible.

4. Universities are to stop large lectures, but schools will not close, as the government notes that there are not many risks involved in these areas and the social consequences are too large – for instance, children will then need to be supervised by parents, who are needed for the workforce- especially those in necessary positions (i.e. police and nurses).

5. People who are in a risk group, the elderly, are urged to not use public transport.

6. Healthcare workers must come to work unless they have complaints or develop any of the symptoms.

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7. Limit your visits to people at risk, in other words, don’t visit the elderly.

More measures regarding the heavily impacted province of North-Brabant will be announced later today.

Some other advice

This is serious business people, and not just a little ‘flu’. The Dutch government is counting on people themself to make wise decisions as well. Cancel your birthday party, take a bike instead of public transport, wash your hands, don’t do any unnecessary travel, flatten the curve. We’re all in this together.

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Feature Image: Canva/DutchReview