https://nltimes.nl/2022/01/26/restau...measures-relax

Netherlands: Restaurants, museums reopen as lockdown measures relax
Today everything in the Netherlands is allowed to open again, under certain conditions. Restaurants and bars are permitted to receive guests again, as can theaters, museums, casinos, zoos, and amusement parks. Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Health Minister Ernst Kuipers announced the relaxation of the coronavirus restrictions in a press conference on Tuesday.

Opening times of 5:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. apply for all non-essential businesses. Coronavirus access passes are mandatory for everyone aged 13 and older in the catering industry, theaters and concert halls, museums, indoor sports locations, cinemas, zoos, amusement parks, saunas, and casinos. People must also wear a face mask on public transport and in public indoor spaces like shops and museums. For cinemas, restaurants, and theaters, visitors can remove their masks once seated.


The announcement that movie cinemas would reopen again sparked a run on tickets on Tuesday evening. In some cases, people were in a digital queue for over 40 minutes, with thousands of people trying to buy a movie ticket. The major cinema chains' sites were easily accessible again on Wednesday morning. People could buy tickets at large operators like Pathe and Vue without waiting in a digital queue.

People especially scrambled to buy tickets for big blockbusters like Spider-Man: No Way Home and The Matix Resurrections. The umbrella organization for cinemas said that it was happy that the public was finding their way back to the theaters again after the lockdown.

World of Dinos - the largest traveling dinosaur expo in Europe - will open again in De Kromhouthal in Amsterdam due to the relaxed coronavirus measures. The expo will be open from February 5 to 27. "There was an immediate rush for tickets after last night's press conference. Reservations are made en masse. The public is clearly looking forward to it again," said spokesperson Mike Leegwater.

For schools, only pupils who have symptoms or have tested positive for Covid-19 have to stay home. The rest of the class can go to school. Pupils are advised to do a Covid-19 test at home twice a week.

Kuipers also relaxed the quarantine rules for essential workers, he said in a letter to parliament. Essential workers, like waste collectors and healthcare workers, don't have to quarantine after contact with an infected person if they don't have symptoms and if their employer approved them coming into work.

The Cabinet assumes that the relaxations will lead to a spike in the number of coronavirus infections. Rutte and Kuipers, therefore, stressed that people should keep adhering to the basic rules - maintain social distancing, wash their hands regularly, keep rooms well ventilated, and get tested if they have symptoms.

Netherlands todays numbers

58.666 new cases (although due to technical malfunction over 78.000 positive covid tests from the last 9 days need to be added up to the system)

1.154 total hospitalisations

249 total on ICU's/ventilators, 15 new patients on ICU's

133 new patients on nursing wards

Good to hear, you seem to have been unlucky but on the mend now

Christmas is cancellllllllllled

Thank you !


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Wednesday 26/1/22

364 have Died
102,292 have Caught Covid-19

Patients in hospital
Latest available
16,594

Patients in
ventilation beds
Latest available
575


154,702 Total UK Deaths of Covid-19

https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/

Coronavirus Outbreak : Plan B is ending 26th Jan
 

For comparison

Although we’ve stopped doing PCRs so I don’t know how that affects the figures


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the numbers on vent are dropping consistently, thats great news

We stopped doing PCRs at least 2 weeks ago so the figures will be comparable

Yes but how do we compare with before the PCR cut off point ?


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You can’t but it’s hospital numbers that matter not infections :shrug:

True


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https://nltimes.nl/2022/01/27/cabine...ter-nightclubs

Netherlands: Cabinet discussing Covid testing everyone, vaccinated or not, to enter nightclubs
The Cabinet will talk with the nightlife industry to see whether they could be opened with the 1G coronavirus access policy, Minister Ernst Kuipers of Public Health promised during a parliamentary debate on the coronavirus. PvdA MP Attje Kuiken asked whether the sector might reopen if all visitors, vaccinated or not, are tested for Covid-19 before entering. Though she added that this solution is "not ideal."

Currently, people who visit a catering establishment have to show a coronavirus access pass based on the 3G system. They must show they have been vaccinated against, recovered from, or tested negative for Covid-19. Parliament also discusses the 2G policy, which only allows access to vaccinated or recovered people. In 1G, everyone must test negative.

Earlier in the coronavirus debate, parliamentarians also discussed the possibility of testing people in many more places to reopen society further. The Cabinet believes that extensive use of coronavirus tests is not possible because there is insufficient testing capacity for this in a "period when things are already going wrong in all kinds of places," said Kuipers. But he promised to talk with the nightlife sector after Kuiken pointed out that the sector has been unable to operate for two years.

https://nltimes.nl/2022/01/27/travel...-visit-germany

Netherlands: Travelers with Covid boosters can soon skip Dutch quarantine; Some may need extra jab to visit Germany
Travelers from very high-risk areas who have had a booster shot will no longer have to quarantine upon arrival in the Netherlands from next week Wednesday, the Cabinet informed parliament. Netherlands residents who got the Jannsen vaccine against Covid-19 may have to get an extra booster shot if they want to go to Germany, Health Minister Ernst Kuipers said.

Travelers from very high-risk countries currently have to quarantine for 10 days after arriving in the Netherlands. Almost two weeks ago, the Cabinet announced that people in the Netherlands who had a booster shot at least a week ago no longer have to quarantine after contact with an infected person, provided they have no symptoms. The same rules will apply to travelers from very high-risk countries from February 2.

Over 30 countries are territories are considered very high-risk due to the coronavirus situation there. These include the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Israel, and countries in southern Africa.

Minister Kuipers will ask the Health Council whether people who received the Janssen vaccine can get an extra booster so that they are welcome in Germany. The Janssen vaccine requires only one dose to be fully vaccinated. But in Germany, one Janssen shot and a booster is not enough for a coronavirus access pass. Germany requires a third vaccination for this.

Kuipers called it a shame that Germany made a different assessment than the rest of the EU member states on this matter. "Unfortunately, we can't change that."

CDA parliamentarian Joba van den Berg expected there had already been "high-level" consultations between Germany and the Netherlands. She hopes that the extra booster shot will offer a solution "if it can be done responsibly," because a solution is badly needed. Five Dutch provinces border the country. "We are so dependent on Germany."

Prime Minister Mark Rutte, who got the Janssen vaccine, seemed to only realize during the coronavirus debate that he can no longer go to Germany. "But we're going to talk about that," he told Kuipers.

[Travelers with Covid boosters can soon skip Dutch quarantine]

Good Move by your Leader
Nicky.

A man has been jailed for eight weeks after he accosted Prof Sir Chris Whitty in a central London park.

Jonathan Chew, 24, and Lewis Hughes, 24, approached England's chief medical officer in St James's Park in June 2021.

Appearing at Westminster Magistrates' Court, Chew, from Chelmsford, Essex, pleaded guilty to a charge of intending to cause harassment, alarm or distress.

Hughes was previously sentenced for assault by beating.

In addition to the jail sentence, Chew, who also admitted obstructing a police officer, was ordered to pay £1,058 in costs and compensation.

Prosecution barrister Iestyn Morgan told the court Chew started filming Sir Chris on his phone while Hughes grabbed him in a headlock.

The footage, lasting about 20 seconds, was widely shared on social media and showed the pair jeering as Sir Chris attempted to break free.

England's chief medical officer was uninjured in the attack which happened on 27 June 2021.

Eight weeks isn’t long enough by any means ... the guy assaulted and scared the prof and also wrestled with a policeman!


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and he scared a nation with inaccurate data forecasts time and time again

when is he going to jail?

It wasn’t his data to be fair .. his team just analysed it


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The buck stopped with him

https://www.euronews.com/next/2022/0...-be-used-in-th

EMA approves Pfizer/BioNTech anti-covid pill to be used in the EU

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) said on Thursday it had approved Pfizer's anti-COVID-19 pill Paxlovid, becoming the first orally administered antiviral drug authorised for use in the European Union.

"The EMA's Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) has recommended the granting of a conditional marketing authorisation for the oral antiviral drug Paxlovid," the EU regulator said in a statement.

The EMA recommended "authorising Paxlovid for the treatment of COVID-19 in adults who do not require supplementary oxygen and who are at increased risk of the disease becoming severe".

Antivirals work by reducing the ability of a virus to replicate itself, thereby curbing the disease.

They are eagerly awaited because they are easy to administer, and can simply be taken at home with a glass of water.

Pfizer said in December that Paxlovid reduced hospital admissions and deaths in at-risk people by up to 90 per cent when taken in the first few days after symptoms appear.

Reduced hospitalisations and COVID deaths
The EMA assessed data from a study involving COVID-19 patients showing that "treatment with Paxlovid significantly reduced hospitalisations or deaths in patients who had at least one underlying condition putting them at risk of severe COVID-19".

The majority of patients in the study were infected with the Delta variant, the EMA said, while noting that laboratory tests indicate that Paxlovid should remain effective against Omicron.

The Pfizer pill is a combination of a new molecule, PF-07321332, and the HIV antiviral Ritonavir, which are taken as separate tablets.

"The EMA's Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use has concluded that the benefits of the medicine outweigh its risks for the approved use," and will now "send its recommendations to the European Commission for a rapid decision applicable in all EU Member States," the regulator said.

The approval process by the Commission usually takes a few hours or days.

"With the approval of Paxlovid this week, six anti-COVID drugs have been authorised as part of the EU's therapeutic strategy," European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety Stella Kyriakides said in a statement.

The US, Canada, and Israel are among a handful of countries that have already given the new Pfizer treatment the green light.

Thursday 27/1/22

338 have Died
96,871 have caught Covid -19


Patients in hospital
Latest available
16,510

Patients in
ventilation beds
Latest available
561

155,040 Total UK Covid-19 Deaths

https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/

Yes it was good to go to the football last night and not bother about a mask