Dutch coronavirus patients who refuse to voluntarily isolate themselves after testing positive may now be forced to quarantine.Â
Ever since the coronavirus first came to the Netherlands, it has been advised that those who test positive for the virus must go into quarantine and avoid all contact with other people.
However, according to outgoing Minister for Health Hugo De Jonge in the press conference of January 12, more than a quarter of Dutch people who test positive for coronavirus still go out in public.
The government can now take matters into their own hands. Those who pose “a serious threat to public health” and “cannot be otherwise effectively averted” will now be forced to quarantine in University Medical Center Groningen, says a decree published in the official Government Gazette.
The measure can only be taken once the chairman of one of the 25 safety regions has been consulted. The quarantine would then be carried out under Article 31 of the Public Health Act.
De Jonge says “due to the outbreak of Covid-19, it is necessary to designate a hospital where patients can be isolated who are (suspected) infected with this infectious disease and who do not voluntarily cooperate in isolation.”
What do you think of a forced quarantine for those who refuse to isolate? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below!Â
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Finally! It is ridiculous in the first place that quarantine has not been mandatory and infected and infectious people could go outside without consequences. This country is chasing itself with all these measurements that should’ve been in place from the very beginning. Of course after being way too lenient for such a long time backfires and that’s why people go crazy over any new restriction.