![]() ![]() Belgium, which has only about 11 million inhabitants, has had about 7,600 COVID-19 deaths by comparison.Īsked Wednesday why a gentler approach to lockdowns may be working in some countries, World Health Organization emergency director Mike Ryan noted that Sweden, in particular, had indeed "put in place a very strong public health policy around physical distancing, around caring and protecting for people in long-term facilities and many other things." So far, compared with the very heavy death toll and high number of infected in these countries, the Dutch approach seems to be working, with 4,711 lives lost and 38,802 cases reported for a population of just over 17 million. Netherlands lockdown coffee shops how to#Rutte, for example, has previously said that it was important to build "herd immunity" and that much of the Dutch population would get the disease - a controversial concept that appeared to have been backed by the British government at one stage.ĭutch policy has not always gone down well with its neighbors though, with Belgium - one of the worst affected countries - initially grumbling that the Netherlands was not strict enough.īut the Dutch believe they have made the right choice compared to countries like Italy, Spain, France and Belgium as the lockdowns there drag on and governments struggle to work out how to ease the restrictions. The Dutch position - very similar to Sweden's - also reflects a wider philosophical split in both Europe and the world on how to balance the need to curb the disease against the catastrophic economic damage caused by harsh lockdowns. The authorities have admonished the public when the country's beaches have become too crowded, but while police have closed car parks to stop crowds flocking there at the weekends, they remain open. "We don't work like that in the Netherlands, where the government says 'you have to do this, you have to do that," Rutte said during a press conference at the end of March. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte cleans his hands upon his arrival to meet with an imam in the Al Islam mosque in The Hague, April 23, 2020, a few hours before the start of the Ramadan, amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte - who came up with the phrase "intelligent lockdown" - has been clear on the policy. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |