“It may be your last debate as Minister of Health, so I would like to thank you for all your efforts.” Words from GroenLinks MP Westerveld at the end of the corona debate, Wednesday evening, to Hugo de Jonge.
Other MPs also reflected on the commitment of the outgoing minister in the corona pandemic and good wishes were exchanged for the recess and Christmas. But whether they will really no longer see each other before then is the question: there is a real chance that corona measures will be debated again before Christmas.
Rutte and De Jonge said it yesterday at the press conference: we have to brace yourself for a coming omikron wave. The concerns are great and serious, De Jonge repeated in the House on Wednesday evening.
In that light, a majority of the House supported the extension of the current package of measures, such as the evening lockdown, until January 14. There were questions: for example, opposition parties of De Jonge wanted to know why primary schools still have to close and other measures have not been considered. De Jonge, who also said “he was very disappointed with the decision”, explained that there was really no other way and pointed to the high number of infections in primary education.
Echt hozen
Education minister Slob – who insisted on keeping schools open for a long time – spoke of a “bitter pill”, but emphasized how quickly things have changed in a week. Hence the early closure of the schools and the extension of the other measures.
Whether this together will be enough to counter the wave of infections with the omikron variant remains to be seen. “We still don’t know a lot about the new variant,” emphasized De Jonge. Omikron is expected to become dominant in early January. While the number of infections with the delta variant is slowly decreasing, the number of infections with omikron is expected to increase quickly in January.
The Outbreak Management Team will meet again next Friday. There may be more information from England then, said De Jonge. It is possible that a new ‘weighing moment’ will follow, and that additional measures will be announced next week.
Meanwhile, the cabinet repeats –just like the RIVM this morning– the message to “boost, boost, boost”. British research shows that this can offer some solace in protection against the omikron variant. But everything really has to be done as quickly as possible, acknowledges De Jonge. “It’s really bailing.”
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