It doesn’t look like there will be any easing next week. In the run-up to Tuesday’s corona press conference, ministers say that although the infection figures are declining, the pressure on healthcare is still very high.
Outgoing Minister Van Engelshoven spoke most clearly before the start of the weekly Council of Ministers. She sees no reason for relaxation at the moment. “I don’t see from the figures that there is a lot of space. So I think we will also talk about more support for the cultural sector in the coming days.”
Other ministers did not want to anticipate the decisions yet, because nothing has been decided yet. There will be another Catshuis consultation on Sunday. Then we look at the latest advice from the Outbreak Management Team (OMT)).
Still a lot of work to do
Outgoing minister De Jonge called it nice that the infection figures are “over the hill”, but he pointed out that many people are still in the ICUs in the hospitals with corona and that the omikron variant entails a lot of uncertainty. “There’s still a lot of concern that has scaled down; we really have a lot of work to do to make sure the numbers actually go down.”
Yesterday, Minister Slob said that the government is committed to keeping schools open around the Christmas holidays. He sees nothing in an extra week off, because there are already learning delays due to corona. This morning he emphasized once again that a decision on this will be made on the basis of OMT advice that the cabinet will receive this weekend. “But the stakes are clear.”
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