This is the most important corona news of Saturday 12 February.
4:06 p.m. – Convoy protesters drive away from Buitenhof
The trucks, tractors and other vehicles that campaigned on behalf of Freedom Convoy Netherlands at the Buitenhof-Lange Vijverberg intersection in The Hague left there, honking loudly. According to one of the drivers, they drive in a column to the stadium of ADO The Hague, just outside the city.
Mayor Jan van Zanen had given the demonstrators until 3.30 pm to leave. They blocked several roads and streets in the center of The Hague since early Saturday morning. Anyone who does not respond to the call risks arrest and a fine and could also pay for 306 euros towing costs that the municipality can charge.
15:44 – Protest action Maastricht for opening night catering
Because the night catering in Maastricht is not allowed to open on Saturday, people are called on to demonstrate. Action group Pax Cultura Maastricht encourages residents to come together on Saturday at 10 p.m. in front of the municipal office in Maastricht and on the Griend.
Nightclub Complex in Maastricht wanted to open Saturday evening (and night) in protest. But because the municipality threatens with a penalty of 50,000 euros, the club has decided to remain closed.
3:43 pm – Number of new corona cases drops to more than 70,000
Between Friday morning and Saturday morning, 70,410 new corona cases were registered at the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM). That is a lot less than Friday, when 80,676 new infections were identified after correction.
In the past seven days, RIVM registered 877,209 positive test results. That equates to an average of 125,316 new cases per day. Last Tuesday, more than 300,000 overdue test results were reported in one fell swoop. The RIVM already indicated that day that the number of positive tests is starting to level off.
In the past 24 hours, most new infections were detected in Amsterdam, namely 2,408 cases. Utrecht follows at a distance with 1809, then The Hague with 1790 new cases. Rotterdam comes in fourth with 1754 and Groningen completes the top five with 1116 newly discovered infections.
2:38 pm – Mayor of The Hague dissolves Freedom Convoy demonstration
The mayor of The Hague has canceled the unannounced trucker demonstration of Freedom Convoy Netherlands. The police ordered the demonstrators to leave. Anyone who does not comply with this risks arrest and a fine, according to the municipality of The Hague. Costs of towing vehicles may also be charged.
A spokesman for the municipality said earlier that the demonstrators were given plenty of time to spread their message. “The municipality wants to make the city easily accessible again for normal traffic, shoppers, entrepreneurs and public transport.”
2:16 pm – Less than 180 corona patients on ICs, lowest number in months
The number of corona patients in the intensive care units of Dutch hospitals fell by 13 to 176 on Saturday. That is the lowest number since October 22, according to the most recent figures from the National Coordination Center for Patients Spreading (LCPS).
A total of 1471 people with corona are still in hospitals. That is 69 fewer than Friday. In the nursing wards, this number fell by 56 to 1,295.
In the past 24 hours, 195 new corona patients were brought in to the nursing wards, 13 new admissions to the ICs. That is 11 less than Friday.
10:25 am – ‘Freedom convoy’ causes nuisance in The Hague city center
Trucks and other vehicles are causing nuisance in the city center of The Hague on Saturday morning, where they protest against the corona measures. The demonstrators have been asked to go to Malieveld. The road between the Binnenhof and Malieveld is completely blocked by, among other things, trucks and dozens of passenger cars.
Traffic in the city is affected by the demonstration under the name Freedom Convoy Netherlands. Police are urging road users to avoid the center as much as possible.
The municipality reports on Twitter that “people who demonstrate unannounced” at the Binnenhof are referred to the Malieveld. “Action will be taken against ignoring police instructions and violating traffic rules.” The municipality previously wrote that participants must park their vehicles at the ADO Den Haag stadium.
8:00 am – Corona alarm bells are ringing for five hundred days
There was once a time when hardly any people were infected with the corona virus. A few hundred people a day tested positive, at most, and all hospitals together treated a few dozen corona patients. The Netherlands remained far below the so-called signal value, the level at which the alarm bells went off. That has been a thing of the past for some time now. On Saturday, the Netherlands will exceed that critical limit for the 500th time, on day 717 of the corona crisis.
The signal value was established in June 2020, between the first and second wave. The limit would be crossed if 7 infections were detected for every 100,000 inhabitants. For the whole of the Netherlands, this amounts to approximately 1,222 positive tests in 24 hours. If this were to continue for a long time, it could lead to a wave of hospitalizations and overload of care, and then to many deaths. To prevent that, the government should perhaps take stricter measures.
7:30 am – Nightclubs open doors in protest against corona measures
Night catering throughout the Netherlands is participating in ‘The Night is up’, in which they open their doors in protest against the corona measures. Amsterdam nightclubs that participate in the action risk a fine of 4500 euros. Other municipalities, such as Utrecht, Haarlem and Maastricht, have also announced that they will enforce it.
The action was announced last week by the sector organization Nachtbelang and the Amsterdam Clubs Consultation (OAC). The initiators say they are tired of the fact that the government’s plans to reopen society do not include nightlife. Clubs across the country joined the campaign.
7:00 a.m. – FNV outraged about the ministry’s involvement with OMT advice
It is a “bad thing” that the Ministry of Health was allowed to interfere with the OMT advice, says Vice-President Kitty Jong of FNV. She says she was “horrified” at the news about the ministry that had influence on the advice against masks by staff in the elderly care.
“At the beginning of the corona crisis, we asked the ministry to provide masks for healthcare staff,” says Jong. “All this time, the staff did not receive these mouth caps, and the ministry said to base itself on the advice. But now we see that the ministry itself was part of this.” A ministry official stated that recommending against masks in elderly care “could be a bit sharper”, Nieuwsuur reports Friday.