COVID-19: concerns on social media over the handling of the coronavirus in the Netherlands

The coronavirus, COVID-19 has increasingly spread throughout Europe, leading to a quarantine of 16 million people in Italy.

In the Netherlands, the first case was detected back on the 27th of February. In the time since, the number of cases has increased greatly, up to 264 positive cases.

Concern over the way Dutch authorities are handling the coronavirus

People on social media have been quick to point out that Dutch authorities are not doing enough to control the spread of the virus. Eva van Esch, a lawmaker from the Party for Animals stated that the government is more focused on controlling the panic rather than the virus.

She also declared that a friend of hers who came from Italy with the symptoms took over a week to get tested, and was not told to quarantine herself. Van Esch said that once her friend got tested positive, she was advised not to tell anyone about her diagnosis.

Students return to Groningen from ski trip in Italy

Another recent controversy has been the return of 900 students from a ski trip in northern Italy back home in the Netherlands, belonging to the Vindicat student society.

The authorities tested four of the students, and the results were negative. Students who do not show symptoms are not required to quarantine themselves and are free to walk around town.

Dutch and EU authorities have said that the virus cannot be spread by those who do not have symptoms, however, this contradicts with statements from US government agencies.

If you want to read more about the Dutch response, you can take a look here.

Overall, the media has had very different approaches to covering the coronavirus depending on the country.

Check out our Coronavirus video

How did coronavirus come to the Netherlands? What can you do against it in daily life? Is the Netherlands properly prepared for a COVID-19 pandemic? This and plenty of other pressing questions you might have about the coronavirus are all answered in this video by DutchReview.

Oh, and if you’re feeling anxious about all the virus stuff, this article might help. And this one is about the Dutch being, well, not so great with washing their hands.

Feature Image: iXimus/ Pixabay

Vlad Moca-Grama
Vlad Moca-Grama
Vlad was born and raised in Brasov, Romania and came to the Hague to study. When he isn't spending time missing mountains or complaining about the lack of urban exploration locations in the Netherlands, you can find him writing at Dutch Review.

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