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Airport Omicron cases revised up to 18, passengers are still testing postive

In total 18 of the passengers on two flights from South Africa which arrived in the Netherlands last Friday were carrying the Omicron variant of coronavirus, public health institute RIVM said on Saturday. In total, 61 out of 624 people on the two flights were found to have coronavirus during a mass testing at the airport. The RIVM said earlier that 14 people had the Omicron version, but that has now been revised upwards. All those passengers who no longer... More >

Princess Beatrix tests positive for Covid

The former Dutch queen Beatrix has tested positive for coronavirus after suffering mild cold symptoms, the state information service RVD has confirmed. Beatrix, who is known as princess since abdicating in 2013 in favour of her son Willem-Alexander, is at home and is following the rules for people who have tested positive for the virus, the RVD said. Beatrix, 83, was in Curacao last week for a working visit and told local health officials that she had already been given... More >

More Dutch, Afghans evacuated from Kabul

In total 67 Dutch people and Afghan nationals with links to the Netherlands have been evacuated from Afghanistan on two planes chartered by France and Qatar, the foreign affairs ministry has told broadcaster NOS. The group included four Dutch nationals and their families. The rest were either interpreters or worked for the Dutch in Afghanistan in another function, NOS said. Gisteren zijn twee vluchten uit Afghanistan aangekomen in Qatar. De mensen die daarmee zijn overgebracht reizen binnenkort door naar NL.... More >

Politicians call for home insulation

Councillors and MPs in the Netherlands are calling for more recognition of the importance of proper home insulation in phasing out the use of gas central heating systems. Political parties D66 and GroenLinks have pointed out that – for all the talk of geothermal energy and heat pumps – the first step is improving home insulation, particularly in offices and older and listed buildings. Bart Vink, D66 councillor and sustainability spokesman in Amsterdam, recently received what he described as ‘woolly’... More >

COP26 has finished: now what?

It’s been a few weeks since the end of the climate conference in Glasgow, where delegates from nearly 200 countries signed a new agreement to stop temperatures rising above 1.5 degrees. But, what does that mean for Dutch climate policy? Marjan Minnesma, the director of climate organisation Urgenda, is optimisticabout the outcomes. ‘I could be pessimistic, and that will lead you to a dark place,’ she says, ‘but some good and necessary steps were made.’ Minnesma and Urgenda hit the... More >

Covid jabs for kids with health issues

The Dutch health council Gezondheidsraad is recommending that children aged five to 11 who are at risk of becoming seriously ill with coronavirus should be vaccinated with the Pfizer/Biontech vaccine. The first child doses are expected to arrive in the Netherlands at the end of the month, and priority should be given to children with chronic health problems, the council said. The recommendation covers children with lung disease, heart defects and Down syndrome because they are more likely to end... More >

Next cabinet may have 20 ministers

The next government is likely to consist of 20 ministers and 10 junior ministers and will be dominated by the VVD and D66, sources in The Hague have told the Telegraaf. Talks are still ongoing on forming a new cabinet, but are thought to be nearing completion, with negotiations now starting on dividing up the workload. In the new look cabinet, which will be the fourth led by Mark Rutte, the right-wing VVD is set to get eight ministerial posts,... More >

More than 3,500 excess deaths in November

There were around 3,500 excess deaths in November, according to government statistics office CBS. The ‘excess deaths’ figure is considered an indicator of the spread of coronavirus, and reached a peak during the first wave of the pandemic, when in the 14th week of 2020, there were some 2,000 more deaths than would be expected. In every week in November this year, more people died than usual, and the month’s death toll was 30% higher than in a normal year,... More >

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