LIVE | RIVM: worrisome mutation of British variant in the Netherlands | Inland

Follow the latest corona news in this live blog.

15.39 RIVM: new mutant

The British variant of the coronavirus has started to mutate again. This “worrying” change was first established in the Netherlands. It concerns someone who has been tested in the province of Utrecht. This is reported by the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM).

The mutation may make existing corona vaccines less effective against the virus. The same change has been seen before with the South African and Brazilian variants.

15.32 Partygoers

Partygoers register en masse for the trial festivals and concerts of Fieldlab Events. On Tuesday afternoon, 90,245 people had registered to participate in the four events in March, the organization said. A total of 5600 tickets are available for this.

15.28 Students

Despite all the limitations due to the coronavirus, the progress of the studies of the students of the University of Amsterdam (UvA) is going pretty well. “The average exam grade and the average number of credits obtained is comparable to previous years”, is stated on the UvA website.

14.50 Brand Urk

A 16-year-old boy from Emmeloord and a 20-year-old man from Urk were arrested Tuesday morning on suspicion of arson in a GGD test street in Urk. A 21-year-old man from Emmeloord was previously arrested for this, who is now free again.

14.30 DSM: people are taking more nutritional supplements due to corona

In 2020, DSM has shown that it has prepared itself well against major crises such as the corona crisis. The specialty chemicals group also expects hardly any negative impact from the consequences of the virus for the coming year, ‘although there are some uncertainties for some parts’.

14.30 Chaos around compulsory quarantine United Kingdom

Britons risk ten years in prison if they do not open up about holidays in countries on the so-called ‘red list’. But the reception of these travelers at airports is chaotic. “They have not yet heard of keeping their distance here,” said one of the travelers.

2:25 PM Five questions about curfew

Can I hit the streets again on Tuesday evening? What will happen to the fines? De Telegraaf answers the five most pressing questions.

14.25 OM looks at consequences for curfew fines

The Public Prosecution Service is examining the consequences for the curfew fines now that the preliminary relief judge of the court in The Hague has decided to lift the curfew with immediate effect. That says a spokeswoman for the prosecution general of the Public Prosecution Service.

“The Public Prosecution is studying the ruling and looking whether and what consequences it has for the already imposed fines on curfew offenders,” the spokeswoman for the Public Prosecution Service responds. “This does not apply to the rioters. They just have to answer to court, ”she adds. “Furthermore, we are also closely following developments today.”

14.15 Grapperhaus: cabinet makes ‘superfluously’ urgent law for curfew

The cabinet will nevertheless come up with an urgent law to lay down the curfew. This is what Justice Minister Ferd Grapperhaus says in response to the judge’s ruling that the curfew should be lifted. The government maintains that there is a legal basis for the curfew. The new law would thus be ‘redundant’, Grapperhaus emphasizes.

14.10 Prime Minister Rutte urges: stay home in the evening anyway

Prime Minister Mark Rutte everyone shouts “emphatically” to stay at home in the evening, even if the cabinet fails to uphold the curfew on appeal. According to the prime minister, the measure is still necessary to prevent the spread of the corona virus.

13.00 VVD: need for curfew remains undiminished

According to party leader Klaas Dijkhoff of the VVD, the curfew is still necessary. The court in The Hague on Tuesday put an end to the measure because it is not properly substantiated, among other things.

“This statement is about how the decision was made. Unfortunately, it does not say anything about the need for curfew for the fight against corona. That is undiminished ”, says Dijkhoff. “Especially now I want to know from the cabinet how they will fix this.”

12.45 ‘Thump for cabinet’

The curfew must be lifted immediately. The verdict is a slap in the face of the cabinet, says political commentator Wouter de Winther.

12.44 Bonaire and Aruba

The first flight with corona vaccines for the Caribbean part of the Kingdom left from Schiphol on Tuesday, to Bonaire and Aruba to be precise. The flight by KLM passenger aircraft was the start of a series of vaccine shipments in this way. All islands are served this and following weeks.

12.43 Cabinet was warned

The cabinet has been warned about the unusual procedure with which the curfew has been arranged. The Council of State, the highest adviser to the government, called the chosen path different and “not self-evident.”

12.39,800 vaccines?

In the past year, research has started more than 800 times around the world into a vaccine or a drug specifically against Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. Among these are the three vaccines and two more medicines that have now been approved by the medicines agency EMA for Europe.

12.20 Curfew fines

Hundreds of people who have received a curfew fine claim it back or want it remitted see.

12.11 Engel expects party on the street

Willem Engel expects Tuesday evening lots of people partying on the street after the decision of the court in The Hague that the curfew should be lifted.

12.07 Huge backlog

Due to the corona measures, the number is postponed theoretical and practical exams at the Centraal Bureau Rijvaardigheidsbewijzen (CBR) has risen to more than 600,000.

12.03 Lareb: 35 deaths

There have been 35 reports of this so far death after vaccination corona vaccines, reports Side Effects Center Lareb.

11.15 Breaking: judge ends curfew

Curfew must be lifted immediately. The court in The Hague has determined this in a case that was filed by protest group Virus Truth.

10.41 Major police operation in German city after discovery of corona variant

The German authorities have quarantined four residential buildings in the city of Hamm (North Rhine-Westphalia). There, a construction worker tested positive for the British variant of the corona virus, which is seen as more contagious.

Residents of multiple buildings are now being tested for the virus. According to the newspaper Rheinische Post, this concerns more than a hundred people. The police also deployed about 100 men to support that operation. The officers must ensure that people adhere to the quarantine measures.

The German authorities announced earlier this month that the British virus variant B117 has already been found in 13 of the 16 states. Germany has now also largely closed the border with the Czech Republic and the Austrian federal state of Tyrol to keep new corona variants outside the border.

10.20 Party

The Netherlands is longing for a party: all 63,000 test festival registrations

10.00 North Korean hackers also harass Pfizer over vaccine

North Korean hackers also target the American pharmaceutical giant Pfizer. South Korean intelligence officers have said this to a parliamentary committee in Seoul, South Korean news agency Yonhap reported.

The hackers tried to break into servers to learn more about the production of the vaccines at Pfizer. It is not the first time that reports have surfaced of North Korean hackers’ keen interest in pharmaceutical companies involved in making corona vaccines. For example, late last year, Microsoft reported that North Koreans had attacked seven major pharmaceutical companies in Canada, France, India, the US and South Korea.

9.30 Recession

The Netherlands is heading for a second recession. The lockdown means that consumers can spend much less in the hotel and catering industry and the shopping street, causing the economy to shrink.

8.25 Japan wants to vaccinate, but is struggling with hypodermic needle shortage

A shortage of special hypodermic needles in Japan is causing problems in the run-up to the vaccination campaign against the corona virus. It is feared that millions of doses of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine could be lost.

Japan, with 126 million inhabitants, will start vaccinating on Wednesday. The country has ordered 144 million doses from pharmaceutical company Pfizer. These are supplied in bottles that can be taken out of six doses, but they require a special injection needle. Five doses can be obtained with the syringes that are ready in Japan.

7:00 am Number of corona cases remains approximately the same

The National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) will report again on Tuesday how many new corona cases have been registered in the past week. That number remains roughly the same, but that picture may be distorted by the winter weather.

More than a week ago, the GGDs had to close all test streets due to cold, snow, cutting wind and slipperiness. Tens of thousands of appointments fell through. Those people could still be tested in the days after, but those results will probably count towards the new week, the overview of which will be published on Tuesday. On Monday morning, the test streets were also closed for several hours due to freezing rain, but it is not clear how big the effect is. And if there is an effect, it will mainly be seen in next week’s figures.

The number of positive tests has dropped for seven weeks in a row. At the end of December, the RIVM received 82,340 reports of positive tests in seven days, compared to 24,668 last week. That equates to an average of 3,524 per day. In the six days since then, 22,520 new cases were registered, an average of 3,753 per day.

6.45 am Airlines help with transport vaccines

UNICEF launched the so-called humanitarian air freight initiative on Tuesday. More than ten airlines partner with the UN organization to supply and distribute Covid-19 vaccines, drugs and medical devices to 145 countries.

6.35 am Corona vaccination on the Frisian Wadden Islands starts

The first residents of the four Frisian Wadden Islands will be vaccinated against the corona virus from Tuesday. A special vaccination team goes from the mainland to Vlieland, Terschelling, Ameland and Schiermonnikoog, so that the residents do not have to cross the road. In five weeks, the islanders will get the second shot and they should be protected against the corona virus.

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