Today’s warm weather today in the Netherlands is expected to break another high-temperature record — for the eleventh time this year.
Today is expected to be dry and sunny, with light clouds moving in later in the afternoon.
The day is expected to warm up to around 13 degrees in the north of the country, and 17 degrees in Limburg. “The light will turn on again today!” says Jan Visser of Buienrader.
Record-breaking warmth
The standing heat record for November 18 is 14.5 degrees in 2015, which will most certainly be broken today as temperates climb into the higher teens throughout the country.
With the unusually warm weather we’ve had all year, “record-breaking heat” is no stranger to the headlines in 2020. Today will mark the eleventh time this year temperatures have left their mark on history.
Stormy weather on the way
Tomorrow, on the other hand, showers and hefty winds will gust into the Netherlands. Thunderstorms are possible, particularly in the north. Temperatures will reach a maximum of 11 degrees, with winds of around 75 km/hr in coastal provinces.
The rain is expected to sprinkle on and off for several days to come, with moody temperatures moving down to a maximum of 8 or 9 degrees on Friday.
Do you have plans to enjoy today’s sunny weather? Tell us in the comments below.
The Dutch government plans to expand testing capacity even further by March. The hope is that residents of the Netherlands will be able to get tested for COVID once per month.
Sources tell RTL Nieuws that the government hopes to be able to test anyone in the Netherlands at least once per month, regardless of whether or not they have symptoms of coronavirus.
In last night’s press conference, Minister for Health Hugo De Jonge announced that there will be experiments with large scale testing. It is believed these will begin in January.
Not ready yet
The current testing capacity of the Netherlands is not up to scratch yet however. In order to make this achievable, there are a number of things that need to happen.
Firstly, more people needed to be trained in administering a coronavirus test. Secondly, more testing locations are required in order to have enough places for everyone, and finally, more testing kits are needed.
According to RTL Nieuws, the cabinet will reach out to test providers and companies in order to help make this happen. Testing locations may also be found outside of test centres, such as in train stations and shops.
What do you think of large scale testing? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below!
Tonight, Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Minister of Health Hugo de Jonge held a press conference once again. This time it was to announce that the measures taken two weeks ago will not be extended. We can visit a museum again and walk outside with a group of four.
The ministers confirmed that the two-week period of stricter measures will come to an end this week, meaning that we will revert back to the previous measures. As for Christmas, they are hoping to be able to ease restrictions for the holidays. But whether they do this or not will depend on how the numbers perform in the coming weeks.
Measures now in place
The following measures will be in place until at least mid-December and perhaps until Mid-January:
The number of people allowed to meet up outside has been expanded from two to four again. Children and people from the same household are not included in this.
A maximum of three guests from different households are allowed to visit your home per day (up from two guests).
All bars, restaurants, and coffee shops will remain closed, but take-away is still allowed. After 8 PM, alcohol and weed will be banned from consumption in public spaces. Hotels can remain open and serve their guests.
Theatres, cinemas, sports clubs, museums, amusement parks, and zoos will be opened to the public again. A maximum of 30 people are allowed to gather in public spaces. Religious gatherings and parliaments remain exceptions to this but Rutte has appealed to these institutions.
Most events are banned, from festivals to neighbourhood barbeques.
Working from home is strongly advised.
It is strongly encouraged that people do not travel abroad. If you do choose to travel within the Netherlands you can only travel with a maximum of four people from different households.
Mouth masks are to be worn by everyone above the age of 13 in public sectors (including in schools, MBOs, and universities). This will be legally enforced from December 1st, with a fine of €95 for those caught breaking the rule.
Retailers must limit the number of shoppers to ensure a 1.5-metre distance. Individual venues will be consulted to determine the maximum number of visitors allowed inside at one time.
Contact-based industries (such as hairdressers and dentists) must ask customers to provide their name and contact details.
Christmas holidays
De Jonge announced that they are hoping to ease the restrictions halfway through December so that the Netherlands can enjoy the Christmas holidays with some family members. They understand that people are lonely and missing social connections. However, the cabinet is nervous about a potential third wave hitting before Christmas, and so clarity over what measures will look like over the holidays cannot yet be confirmed.
Vaccine, testing, and quarantine
Health Minister De Jonge explained that not everyone will be able to be vaccinated immediately. However, there are plans in place to begin vaccinating the population at the beginning of 2021. Vaccinations will not be obligated but will be strongly encouraged by the government.
As for testing, capabilities will be expanded across the country and De Jonge has urged the public to get tested if they experience symptoms. They are aiming to make it possible to test without complaints by December 1 if you receive an alert from the CoronaMelder app that you have been in contact with someone who tested positive.
The ministers announced that the quarantine timeframe will be reduced from ten days to five days.
But ultimately, De Jonge emphasised that living a healthy lifestyle is an important way to protect yourself from the virus.
Declining infection numbers
The weekly coronavirus update from RIVM revealed that the numbers of infections, hospitalisations and deaths all reduced in the last seven days. New infections tallied at 37,706, which is almost 6,000 less than the previous week. Hospitals admitted 1,496 patients compared to the previous week’s 1,520, and deaths decreased from 565 to 479. If anything, this indicates that the stricter measures we’ve experienced these past two weeks have made a difference.
“We can do better”
“We’ve taken a turn and are heading in the right direction, but it’s still not enough,” says De Jonge.
But Rutte urged the public that we can do better to follow the rules, particularly when it comes to working from home, supermarket behaviour and meeting up with friends. If the downward projection continues, De Jonge says they can consider easing most restrictions halfway through January.
De Jonge encouraged the public to be patient and “hang in there.”
Follow DutchReview on Facebook for the latest coronavirus news and updates.
In every coronavirus press conference so far, Mark Rutte and Hugo de Jonge, have been crystal clear on the issue: “if you can work from home, please work from home.” But the question remains: if this were to continue after the pandemic what effects would it have on employers, employees, and the precious Dutch economy?
Experts and political commentators have often spoken of the “new normal” and how after the pandemic, working from home would be a very big part of that new way of life. In fact, many Dutchies have said they wouldn’t mind continuing to work from home.
However, very little research has been done into the economic consequences of working from home, and that’s because the world has only recently started doing it. It doesn’t matter where you find yourself right now, working from home (for those who can) seems to be the way forward.
Working from home has become the new norm for many. Image: Annie Spratt/Unsplash
The statistics
According to a Rabobank report from April, 43 per cent of all economic activity can be carried out from home. That’s almost half. But it mainly concerns ICT, (digital) business services and financial institutions.
Not everyone works in those sectors, the other half of our economy is based on agriculture, construction, industry, leisure and catering, entertainment (theatre, etc) and healthcare. A 1.5-meter measure may apply there, but working from home seems quite impossible.
Rabobank’s report claims that almost half can work from home, but is that really the case? The Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) calculated that last year almost 40 per cent of all workers occasionally worked from home.
Just to be clear: the Netherlands has about 12 million workers, 3.5 million people with home working experience. Those 3.5 million people did not work week after week from home, but it was incidental, and not on a fixed day. Of those 3.5 million people, 1.3 million are a group who actually always prefer working from home.
But what would be the economic consequences if about half of the Netherlands’ workforce decided to work from home? Vodafone was one of the first companies to allow call centre employees to work from home. Their own research shows that employees who worked from home achieved a 9 per cent higher NPS (Net Promoter Score) than the group in the office, and calls at home were 23 seconds shorter on average than calls in the call centre. The employees from home thus turned out to be more productive. Why is that?
Higher productivity
Working from home leads to higher productivity because people take fewer breaks, can concentrate better (at least, if the kids are in school), no longer have to worry about commuting to work every day and can therefore dedicate the time to work.
Higher productivity also means happier employer and employees, and employers also get to spend less on expensive office space and equipment. Some of the saved money could also go to giving employees an allowance for the energy, internet, and equipment they use to work from home.
Every advantage has its drawback
You would probably think that working from home would only be a win-win situation for employer and employee, but unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way. There is an advantage and a disadvantage to everything and there are just as many studies that point to the disadvantages of working from home for a long period of time.
For example, a working-from-home economy will also have some adverse effects on companies that make a living from an office economy. Consider the suppliers of office furniture and supplies, cleaning companies that make their money from cleaning offices, etc. They may lose work and as such, see a drastic reduction in revenue.
This could lead to companies going bankrupt, having to lay off workers, a reduction in revenue from taxes for the government, and the government spending a lot more on unemployment benefits.
Transport companies like the Dutch Railway Corporation (NS), Connexxion Bus Company, GVB trams and buses, etc., will see their turnover evaporate when the commuter traffic stops.
You also have businesses that operate in the Train Stations all over the country, like Kiosk, AKO bookstores, and of course, the coffee shops where you take a break with your colleagues during lunch. Most of them might just end up closing up shop!
Personal drawbacks
Those who keep their job and work from home may also face some drawbacks. For example, while the Netherlands is currently one of the best countries in terms of maintaining a good work-life balance, people who work from home often work longer days than when they would work at the office. This is mostly because that vague dividing line between work and private life suddenly disappears, and private life loses its function as a place of rest and recovery.
Another possible negative aspect is the end of work social contacts, and for example, not being able to have some coffee, short chats and laughs in the company canteen with colleagues.
Even the possibility of office romance and “working singles” meeting the loves of their lives at the workplace suddenly seems impossible. And with a bit of bad luck, employees might end up having neck and shoulder complaints or a repetitive strain injury (RSI.)
Just for the record: whether and how strongly someone is sensitive to these negative effects depends entirely on personal and social factors. It is also true that both the advantages and disadvantages do not apply to everyone.
Not all of us have the ideal WFH situation. Image: Charles Deluvio/Unsplash.
Face-to-face contact
A company can also be damaged in the medium and long term by too much working from home. Face-to-face interaction with colleagues or customers is important to boost creativity, knowledge transfer and innovation. Sharing ideas, debates, discussions, etc., are all part of the creative process.
While online video meetings and calls have mostly replaced face-to-face meetings, they still lack the magic of being able to meet up physically and working/bonding as a team.
So what exactly is the effect on the economy?
If 43 per cent of all work can be done from home (as Rabobank says), 39 per cent of all workers already do (as Statistics Netherlands says) and there is higher productivity, then working from home could have a positive effect on the economy as a whole. With an emphasis on “could have” because what has not been taken into account in all of this are:
the loss of turnover of those companies that could lose from a working-from-home economy.
the possible (and difficult to measure) dropout and absenteeism in the longer-term and.
the (even more difficult to measure) possibility of diminishing creativity and innovative strength.
There may be a lot of positives from working from home, but for now, the figures aren’t there yet to draw conclusions, and how working from home affects the Dutch economy remains guesswork.
But one thing remains a fact. When the pandemic is over, there will be a new normal, and at first, it will hurt, might hurt a lot, but we will always find a solution. Maybe companies will combine working from home and working from the office!
Do you think that working from home is good for the economy? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below!
The RIVM has reported 37,706 new cases of coronavirus in the past week. This is almost 6,000 less than last week’s numbers. Hospital admissions and deaths are also down.
As the Netherlands comes to an end of the latest coronavirus measures, the effects can be seen. The question is whether measures will continue throughout Christmas.
Hospitalisations
The number of people hospitalised due to coronavirus has dropped slightly this week. There were 1,496 new admissions to nursing wards this week compared to 1520 last week. The ICU also saw a slight drop in numbers with 224 new patients compared to 275 last week.
Deaths
The number of deaths remains high however it has decreased by almost 100. This week, 479 people passed away from coronavirus. Last week saw 565 deaths.
New Vaccines
The past week saw two new vaccines emerge with promising results. The Pfizer vaccine, with an effective rate of 90%, could be ready for distribution in EU countries by December. The Dutch government have ordered 8 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine. A few days later, Moderna announced that their vaccine had proven 94.5% effective, which could potentially arrive to the Netherlands ready for use by January.
Dutch vaccine strategy
The Dutch Ministry of Health will be announcing their vaccine strategy for the Netherlands later this month. They intend to begin vaccinations in December, but this is dependent on when the vaccines arrive. It is expected that the elderly, vulnerable groups and health care workers will be vaccinated first. But vaccinating the whole Dutch population could take over a year, according to Hans van Vliet, manager of the National Immunization Program of the RIVM.
Different rules for those unvaccinated
Health Minister De Jonge has expressed that there may be different measures in place for those who have not yet been vaccinated, once the vaccination programme is in place. But details like this are yet to be decided upon. The vaccine strategy will also depend on which vaccines become available first, and how many vaccines the Netherlands has access to.
Face mask mandate
In the meantime, cabinet have been working on a corona law which will make wearing facemasks in indoor public spaces obligatory. Anyone caught breaking this rule will be fined €95 but will receive no criminal record. The law is expected to be implemented from December 1st.
Paying online in the Netherlands is getting just a bit easier for bunq bank users — the online banking platform is now supporting Google Pay.
bunq’s new Google Pay service has previously been available in on Android phones in a handful of other European countries. Starting today, it’s now also available in the Netherlands and Portugal.
Google Pay is a type of digital wallet that allows you to make payments via many online platforms and contactless payment systems — something not always simple in the Netherlands.
Pay contactless with speed and security! You can now use Google Pay with your Android device anywhere in The Netherlands and Portugal. Simply connect your bunq cards and spend carefree.
For Apple users, this is not such big news, as bunq has supported the comparable Apple Pay method for over a year now.
Larger Dutch banks still not on board
Also jumping on the Google Pay train, two other foreign banks, N26 and revolut, are making the service available to users in the Netherlands, reports NU. Larger Dutch banks are still not ready to come aboard.
Last week, it was the Pfizer vaccine that announced its successful results, and now another company, Moderna, has come out with a promising coronavirus vaccine.
Pharmaceutical company Moderna say that interim results show that their vaccine is 94.5% effective, reports NOS. The study involved 30,000 people, half of which received two doses of the vaccine and half received two placebo doses. The only participants to be diagnosed with COVID-19 had received placebos. Moderna can now take their vaccine into the final stages of development.
Advantages over the Pfizer vaccine
Pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and BioNTech claim that their interim results showed a 90% effectiveness rate for their coronavirus vaccine. This means that preliminary results would suggest the Moderna vaccine is more effective, but professor of vaccinology Cécile van Els of the RIVM is not too concerned. “These are preliminary results, which may change. But at least this says that a large proportion of the vaccinees are protected against COVID-19. Above 90 percent I find impressive,” he told RTL Nieuws.
Both the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines must be stored frozen, but the Moderna vaccine can be thawed and stored in a fridge for 30 days. This is an advantage over the Pfizer vaccine, which must be stored frozen for longer and is thus more complicated to distribute.
However, in many ways the vaccines are similar to each other and so confirm the results of each other. “This is very good news and actually an independent confirmation of the good news from Pfizer last week,” professor of immunology at Amsterdam UMC, Marjolein van Egmond, says. “They have very similar vaccines, the results are very similar, which suggests that it’s all true. This news also makes Pfizer’s results more reliable.”
Accelerated Assessment
The European Medicine Agency (EMA) announced today that they will begin a rolling review of the Moderna vaccine, meaning that the results of the vaccine will be assessed extra quickly.
Usually, the results of vaccine studies are not submitted to authorities until all testing phases have been completed. But in extraordinary circumstances, pharmaceutical companies can request a rolling review, in which the authorities analyse the interim results — a process which normally takes eight months is cut down to just four weeks. Rapid assessment procedures are also underway for the Pfizer and Oxford University vaccines.
160 million doses
The European Union has ordered 160 million doses of the Moderna vaccine, but has also made deals for six other up and coming vaccines expected to show good results soon. However, the Moderna vaccine is likely to only be ready for distribution in the new year. “At the earliest it will be January,” says Van Els. “But of course we cannot all be vaccinated yet. Vaccination will be done step by step.” The elderly, vulnerable and healthcare workers are expected to receive the first vaccines available in the Netherlands.
Would you be willing to take one of these corona vaccines once they become available? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below.
The Farmers Defense Force (FDF) action group has begun a protest this morning in The Hague along with several other Dutch cities.
By 5 AM this morning, around 100 tractors from North Brabant had arrived in The Hague, and hundreds more have since joined.
The FDF initially wanted to demonstrate at Paleis Huis ten Bosch, in order to deliver a letter to King-Willem Alexander, according to NU. The letter would have been a plea for help, but this was not allowed.
Instead, the protest is taking place at the Koekamp (a forested park in the city).
Opposing the Environmental Act
The farmers oppose the Environmental Act, which was passed in parliament four years ago.
The government wants to purchase agricultural businesses surrounding Natura 2000 areas to preserve the existing nature.
The Environmental Act merges the current regulations on spatial planning, construction, nature, environment, and water, and reduces permit requirements, with the intention of minimising red tape and bureaucratic hassle.
The law has yet to take effect, as it has seen a series of delays in recent years. The intention is now for an introduction of the policy to take place in early 2022.
The FDF is concerned that under the new Environmental Act, farmers’ permits will expire. Although, the Agriculture and Horticulture Organisation (LTO) Netherlands states that existing permits and laws under the Environmental Act will not change.
The farmers fear that under the cabinet’s new purchase scheme, they will have no option to start a new business elsewhere once their farm has been bought up.
Requesting the king
The reason the FDF is reaching out to the king is that he is the last hope for a change in the new law — the law is only valid once it’s been signed by the head of state.
The farmers’ campaign, coined “Code Oranje”, also aims to prevent the House of Representatives from signing off on the government’s nitrogen plans.
Hundreds of farmers are expected to demonstrate for two hours this morning, from 9 to 11 AM. The municipality of The Hague has approved a demonstration for 759 farmers. Coronavirus measures will apply.
What do you think of the farmers’ protests? Do you agree or disagree with their position? Tell us your thoughts in the comments.
Tomorrow evening, Dutch Prime Minister Rutte and Health Minister De Jonge will once again hold a press conference on coronavirus measures in the Netherlands. Questions are arising over what measures will look like for the Christmas holidays.
Minister De Jonge expressed his hopes for allowing people to celebrate together, but noted that Christmas is still a long way away, reports RTL Nieuws. “I do not think we can give clarity about that tomorrow. The numbers are much lower than they were, but still much higher than they should be.”
Two weeks of stricter measures complete
As promised, the measures announced two weeks ago will come to an end, meaning that group gatherings will be expanded again. Public buildings like museums, libraries, zoos, concert halls and amusement parks will once again be open. They will have the same measures put in place prior to the stricter two weeks. However, measures are not expected to relax more than this.
Catering industry
The cabinet is discussing whether to open the catering industry again tomorrow, but this is unlikely. Clearer measures for the hospitality industry are expected to only be announced around the beginning of December. However, a potential experiment with 25 restaurants may go forward this week.
Downscaling plan
As of now, the government only has plans in place for reducing the spread of coronavirus as quickly as possible. There are no clear plans for how the Netherlands will ease out of coronavirus measures once a vaccine is available, or when numbers drop enough. It is unlikely that a downscaling plan will be announced tomorrow either.
What do you think of the two weeks of stricter measures coming to an end? Tell us in the comments below.
