LIVE | Security Council discusses new corona measures | Inland

• Doubt about Janssen vaccine protection: 5 questions

The 25 mayors of the Security Council will meet digitally on Monday to discuss the corona measures. The meeting was agreed some time ago to keep each other informed of the experiences, but with new restrictions on nightlife since the weekend, that will be the main topic of discussion. Outgoing justice minister Ferd Grapperhaus is at the meeting.

Last week, the council had an inventory made of the experiences in the catering industry with access testing and with the use of the CoronaCheck app. They did this because, in their view, a few corona clusters were not enough to overhaul the entire policy. On Friday, however, the cabinet decided that nightlife will be banned again for the time being. The results of the inventory will be on the table on Monday.

Municipalities and security regions must maintain the tightened measures. Council chairman Hubert Bruls, mayor of Nijmegen, thinks that this will not be easy. “The genie is out of the bottle and it will be difficult to get it back,” he says.

6.45 – Mayors: Rijk must also help canceled village parties

Smaller village festivals should also be able to receive financial compensation if they suddenly have to be canceled due to the tightened corona measures. According to the AD, this is the view of several mayors who see events in their regions being cancelled. The government would have aroused the wrong expectations with the slogan ‘Dancing with Janssen’.

The tightening of the corona measures announced on Friday not only affects major festivals, but village committees are also forced to cancel or downsize their annual party. Such parties cannot always rely on the guarantee fund of the central government, which was mainly set up for professional organisations.

Peter Snijders, mayor of Zwolle and chairman of the IJsselland Security Region, wants to raise the issue on Monday at the Security Council meeting, in which the 25 presidents of the Security Regions meet. He is supported by his colleagues from Doetinchem, Arnhem and Tilburg, who also want compensation for the financial consequences for the catering industry and event organizers.

6.40 – Australian state reports highest number of infections this year

The Australian state of New South Wales (NSW) reported the highest number of positive corona tests so far this year on Monday. A total of 116 residents tested positive.

In the past 24 hours, 112 infections have been detected locally. Four others contracted their corona infection abroad.

NSW Prime Minister Gladys Berejiklian said at least 34 of those who tested positive have been in contact with other people in the community.

Sydney, the largest city in the state, has been on lockdown since late June to fight an outbreak of the Delta variant of the coronavirus. Since a cluster of infections was discovered in Bondi, a suburb of Sydney, in mid-June, 678 locally acquired corona cases have already been identified. During a press briefing, Berejiklian said the coming days will be crucial in determining whether the lockdown, which ends Friday, will be extended.

On Sunday, Australia reported the first corona death of this year. It concerns a woman in her nineties from Sydney. She would not have been vaccinated against the virus.

6.30 – Great Britain decides to cancel corona measures

The British government will decide on Monday whether the remaining corona measures will be a thing of the past as of July 19. It’s about keeping your distance and holding large gatherings. The mask obligation in public transport and the advice to work from home will also be cancelled. People have to decide for themselves what precautions they take in an ‘well-informed’ way.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the long-awaited and previously postponed easing at a press conference a week ago. According to him, this is possible thanks to the “successful” vaccination program, which started earlier in the United Kingdom than in other countries. As a result, the country can continue in a week’s time on the route to more freedoms.

If the decision becomes final, for example, nightclubs and restaurants will no longer have maximum visitor numbers. This puts an end to the “legal dictate” of restrictions on public life, the prime minister said earlier. He says he continues to wear a mouth cap in busy places “out of protection and courtesy”.

The authorities believe that lifting the measures is feasible now that 65 percent of adults have been fully vaccinated. However, there is concern about the highly contagious Delta variant. Tens of thousands of new corona infections are now reported every day.

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