COVID-19 pandemic in the Netherlands


The COVID-19 pandemic in the Netherlands is part of the ongoing pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. The virus was confirmed to have spread to the Netherlands on 27 February 2020, when its first COVID-19 case was confirmed in Tilburg. It involved a 56-year-old Dutchman who had arrived in the Netherlands from Italy, where the COVID-19 pandemic seemed to enter Europe. As of 21 July, there are 52,073 confirmed cases of infections and 6,136 confirmed deaths. The first death occurred on 6 March, when an 86-year-old patient died in Rotterdam.
Partly on the advice of Jaap van Dissel, measures were taken by the Rutte III cabinet for the public health to prevent the spread of this viral disease, including the "intelligent lockdown".

Background

On 12 January, the World Health Organization confirmed that a novel coronavirus was the cause of a respiratory illness in a cluster of people in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China, who had initially come to the attention of the WHO on 31 December 2019.
Unlike SARS of 2003, the case fatality rate for COVID-19 has been much lower, but the transmission has been significantly greater, with a significant total death toll.

Timeline

January 2020

1–10 March

RIVM scales down reporting from daily to weekly.

Prevention measures and response

In late March, the government announced strict social distancing rules as cases surged over 5,000. All large public events and gatherings are banned until 1 September. Furthermore, in public space a distance of at least 1.5 metres between people not from the same household must be observed, and shops and other venues are to enforce this distancing among their visitors. Fines will be issued to those not complying with the new rules. Companies may face a fine up to €4,000, individuals risk a fine up to €400. Prime Minister Mark Rutte repeated his call to keep distance from each other.
Final examinations of secondary school were cancelled on 24 March. Other measures were that schools and day-cares were closed, except for children whose parents work in the 'vital' sectors, like health care. People were required to work from home as much as possible. These measures also resulted in modified schedules for public transport, as much less transportation of individuals was necessary.

Testing

By mid-March, the country could test about 1,000 samples per day, which is less than the capabilities of other European countries. This also explains a relatively large ratio of the number of deaths to the number of confirmed cases. As of 25 March, 2,500 samples have been tested daily and a total number of 38,000 tests performed. Because of the limited availability of testing capacity, certain groups were prioritised in testing, such as healthcare workers, elderly, and people with acute symptoms. A lack of testing capacity causes a distinct number of deaths by COVID-19 that are not registered as such, although local doctors can recognise the symptoms. By the end of March, the country was testing about 4,000 people per day, with the goal of expanding the testing capacity to about 17,500 daily tests in a couple of weeks. Once such a testing capacity has been reached the Dutch government wants to expand its testing capacity to 29,000 tests a day.
According to a report by the RIVM, an average of 4,280 tests per day have been performed in the period between 9 March and 26 April. Several health organizations have started testing themselves, claiming the procedures of the GGD testing centers take too long.
In a press conference on 6 May, the government announced that starting from 1 June it wants to test all people with COVID-19 symptoms. The coordination has been criticized, with the regional GGD offices stating there is no clear national plan to scale up testing. Nonetheless, the test capacity was increased to 30,000 per day with the GGD's being able to conduct 600-2400 contact traces for positively tested applicants with 2-8% of the tests done assumed to result positive for the virus. On the 1st of June, a national telephone number was made public through which a test time and location could be scheduled. The new system, although initially overwhelmed by the number of callers on the first day, tested 50,000 people in the first week and had 100,000 applicants by the 11 June. By the 9th of June, most regions where successful in handling the increased demand, with people often being able to schedule a test the same day or the day after. The GGD's strive for a test result to be made known to the applicant within 48 hours, with 96% of results being successfully returned within that time by the 11 June.

Impact

In response to regulations announced on 12 March, panic buying of food, toilet paper and medicines, resulted in empty shelves in supermarkets. Prime Minister Mark Rutte appealed to the nation to stop this behaviour. On 12 March it was announced that all public events with more than 100 people will be cancelled until 6 April. On 24 March this period was extended to 1 June for all permit-requiring events. Three days later it was announced in a press conference that all restaurants, museums, sport clubs and schools had to close.

Economic

On 26 March, the Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis published the first calculations of the economic expectations. These expectations are based on the length of the prevention measures against the coronavirus pandemic. If these measures are present for three months, the Dutch economy is expected to shrink by 1.2 percent in 2020. If these measures are required for a year the economy would decline by 10 percent. In all cases it is expected that the economy will slightly grow the following year.
On 8 June, three months into the crisis, an analysis of Rabobank was published. They expected that the economy between March and June shrunk by 8%, with the catering sector being hit the most. They expected that, whereas the crisis was over the peak, the economy would continue shrinking, and the inductries, in particular the construction industry, which were doing relatively well, would be hit as well. The forecast was that the unemployment rate would grow from 3% to 7% by the end of 2020.

Statistics

Total confirmed cases, hospitalisations and deaths




Growth rate of confirmed cases



New confirmed cases per day



New hospitalisations per day



New deaths per day

Notable deaths