LIVE | OMT member: corona peak halfway through this month, situation unstable | Inland

• British trial with ‘crownpaspoort‘starts this month
• Negative corona test required for travel from Tuesday from the Netherlands to Germany
• Rush on German pumping stations: ‘I’m really not going to pay for test proof’
• Woonboulevard lacks the Easter bustle: ‘We let people in without an appointment’
• ‘Terraces open quickly, at 20 degrees you don’t keep anyone inside’

The peak of the third wave of corona is expected to be lower than previously thought and will come mid-month. That is what the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment states in the latest forecast, OMT member Marc Bonten confirms in Nieuwsuur.

Where two weeks ago it was expected that 1,400 intensive care beds will be needed for corona patients by the end of April, the experts now think that the peak will come by the middle of this month with about 800 occupied IC beds. “The explanation is that in recent weeks it was not too bad how fast the increase in the number of IC beds has increased,” says Bonten in Nieuwsuur. “It should be noted that in the last few days there has been a strong increase in the number of IC beds occupied. That is now at 746. That will certainly influence the next prediction. ”

Bonten is therefore cautious about possible relaxation. “As far as we are concerned, the situation is not very different from two weeks ago. There is a lot of uncertainty, ”says the medical microbiologist at UMC Utrecht. “The situation is still unstable.”

22.55 – Curaçao: serious, but manageable

The situation in the Curaçao hospital CMC remains “serious, but it is manageable”. Medical director Ingemar Merkies said this on Monday during a government press conference. Last week, Prime Minister Eugene Rhuggenaath stated that the hospital was full due to the large increase in the number of corona patients.

According to Merkies, more space has been created in the hospital in recent days for the reception of corona patients, including in intensive care. Places have also been set up in the former Sehos hospital, which is next to the CMC.

Furthermore, Dutch doctors and nurses have come to the island and more are on the way to help with the crisis situation. Curaçao had specifically asked for this. Some corona patients have also been transported to Aruba. Merkies thanked the entire Dutch Kingdom for the help provided.

During the press conference it was announced that Curaçao wants to have everyone vaccinated who wants an injection by the end of the month. Currently, more than 2000 people are vaccinated every day. That number should increase to between 7,000 and 9,000 people per day. More injection sites will be opened for this.

20.32 – Bonus healthcare workers

It should have been a bonus, but thousands of health workers who thought they would get the health care bonus did not agree. The government only drew up a few requirements, but these are so broad that employers themselves had to determine who was entitled to the bonus and who was not. And that leads to arbitrariness, misunderstanding and skewed faces, reports RTL Nieuws.

The entire House of Representatives was in favor of the health care bonus plan last year, as a gesture to the health care workers who had been on the front line during the first corona period.

Three demands were made by the ministry: you must have worked in healthcare between 1 March and 1 September, you must have contributed to the fight against Covid-19 and you cannot earn more than twice the average (73,000 euros gross).

More than 5000 healthcare employees rang the bell at the Zorgbonusgemist.nl hotline. At least 3,944 were found to have met all government requirements. But they were told by their employer that their bonus was canceled. These include employees in home care, care for the disabled, pharmacies or nursing homes.

19:22 – Guatemala buys 16 million doses of Sputnik

Guatemala will purchase 16 million doses of the Russian Sputnik vaccine. President Alejandro Giammattei announced this on Monday.

With the purchase, eight million people can be vaccinated by injecting recipients of the Sputnik vaccine with two doses. Just under half of the population of the Central American country can be vaccinated with the cargo.

The vaccines should be delivered within the next two weeks.

18.45 – Pint in the sun?

England benefits from vaccination: terraces open again April 12

10.40 – Portugal opens a little further

After nearly three months of lockdown, secondary schools, museums and café terraces will reopen in Portugal on Monday. Primary schools had already reopened in mid-March. Restrictions remain, such as a maximum of four people at a patio table. Group sports are also not yet allowed.

It is expected that education at universities can resume on April 19 and that theaters will open again for performances. According to the government’s schedule, the restaurants will reopen in early May.

6.35 – Free rapid test twice a week

Britons can take a free corona rapid test twice a week from April 9. The British government announced this on Monday. Residents will receive the tests delivered to their homes, or they can purchase them through their workplace or from local testing lanes. Tests are also conducted in schools.

Until now, people in Britain could only get a free quick test if they belong to a high-risk group or have to leave their home to go to work.

With the extensive testing program, the government hopes to quickly detect outbreaks and, for example, find infections in people who have no symptoms. According to the government, rapid tests have detected more than 120,000 infections that would otherwise not have been found.

The rapid tests, in combination with the vaccination program, should allow for relaxation of measures.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson will update the UK’s roadmap for corona measures on Monday and announce plans for the country’s reopening of the economy.

Johnson is expected to announce that non-essential stores and hairdressers will reopen on April 12. He will also probably provide more clarity about the trial with ‘corona passports’ that will start on April 16. This means that people with a vaccination certificate or a recent negative result can attend sports matches or other events, for example.

6.32 – Record number of infections in one day in India

India reported 103,558 new infections on Monday, the largest daily increase in the country so far. This is according to new data from the Indian Ministry of Health. The total number of confirmed infections in India now stands at 12.6 million.

The country has the third largest total number of confirmed infections worldwide. At the top is the United States with more than 30.7 million cases and Brazil is in second place with about 13 million infections.

6.30 – ‘Vaccination marathon’ in German military vaccination center

The first German vaccination center run by the Bundeswehr has been operating 24 hours a day since Sunday. With 110 soldiers, the center in Lebach can inject up to a thousand injections every day, reports the German Ministry of Defense. Up to May, about 14,000 nocturnal vaccination appointments have been made at the center.

The center is set up in military barracks in the Saarland state, near the border with France. The German armed forces previously deployed about five hundred soldiers in Saarland. Among other things, they conduct source and contact research and conduct corona tests in nursing homes.

Saarland Prime Minister Tobias Hans had already declared a “vaccination marathon” a few days ago because his state had received 81,900 additional doses of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine. Several vaccination centers in the state are therefore also open during Easter.

–