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.
The EU's @ECDC_EU and US @CDCgov have contrary advice about Covid-19 Coronavirus transmission:
ECDC: "It is currently believed that people who are infected but who do not show symptoms cannot transmit the virus."
CDC: "Some spread might be possible before people show symptoms."— Naomi O'Leary (@NaomiOhReally) March 8, 2020
Overall, the media has had very different approaches to covering the coronavirus depending on the country.
Interesting to see the difference in the way #coronavirus is viewed in 🇬🇧 and 🇳🇱. In the latter, “We’ll Probably All Be Fine”; in the former “You’re Practically Dead Already!!!” pic.twitter.com/U12G6TAHxZ
— Ben Coates (@bencoates1) March 9, 2020
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
