Dutch doctor says group will keep sending abortion pills to US women

France24 – AFP, 16 May 2022

Rebecca Gomperts, the founder of abortion-rights groups Women on Waves and
Aid Access, is seen in Amsterdam in September 2020 Remko de Waal ANP/AFP/File

Washington (AFP) – Rebecca Gomperts, a 55-year-old Dutch physician, has spent years fighting for women's access to abortion around the world. 

Made famous by her "abortion boat," as recounted in the 2014 documentary "Vessel," she and her Women on Waves group have anchored the ship in international waters off the coasts of Poland, Spain, Mexico and other countries, offering medical abortions to women otherwise unable to obtain them. 

But it is in the United States that interest has been surging in her other organization, Aid Access, which since 2018 has provided abortion pills over the internet. 

Behind the fast-rising demand is what appears -- based on a rare leak from the US Supreme Court -- to be the imminent end of federal protection for abortion rights. Once the court makes its decision official, probably next month, some 20 states are poised to ban or severely restrict abortions. 

"We're already seeing a huge increase in requests," Gomperts told AFP, saying some people were "panicking." 

"It's not only when this takes place; it has already made people aware how vulnerable they are." 

Aid Access, based in Austria, has been working with physicians to fill requests in the 20 US states where abortion pills can be legally prescribed by telemedicine. 

For requests from the other states, Gompert's group has exploited a legal loophole to send the pills from abroad. 

Demand was strong even before word of the high court's intentions leaked out. In a little more than a year (from October 2020 to December 2021), Aid Access says it received more than 45,000 requests from the United States. 

Reasons for the requests vary: the high cost of other abortion services, the cost and difficulty of traveling to distant abortion clinics, or the impossibility of doing so due to job or child-care demands. 

After filling out a questionnaire, women are instructed on how to take the pills at home. The price is adjusted depending on their ability to pay, and the pills are mailed from a pharmacy in India. Aid Access checks in with the women afterward. 

The most vulnerable

The pills are easy to find elsewhere on the internet, usually for a few hundred dollars. But those websites, also based outside the United States, are purely commercial and provide no medical support. 

For Gomperts, who in 2020 was listed as one of the world's 100 most influential people by Time magazine, the fight for abortion rights is a matter of "social justice." 

"The biggest problem is that the women that are not literate, that cannot read and write, that have no access to internet -- the most impoverished group -- they will not be able to find these solutions," she said. 

Many of them would lack the resources to travel to a state where abortion remains legal. 

"These are the women that might be forced to give birth or that will take drastic measures to end their pregnancy."  

These pills -- mifepristone and misoprostol -- can be used in generally very safe
at-home abortions, experts say; this picture comes from the Plan C advocacy
group Elisa WELLS PLAN C/AFP/File

The certain result, Gomperts said, will be an increase in maternal mortality and morbidity. 

A safe method

According to a 2017 survey of several thousand women in the United States, 20 percent of those who had attempted an at-home abortion used the pills, 29 percent used other drugs, 38 percent used plant-based infusions and 20 percent tried physical methods (some used more than one method, so the total exceeds 100 percent). 

During recent demonstrations outside the Supreme Court, women protesters brandished a disturbing object, something that seemed an artifact from a long-ago era: metal clothes-hangers -- a symbol of highly risky abortions performed clandestinely. 

And yet, up to the 10th week of pregnancy, abortion pills are very safe, experts say. 

A demonstrator holds up a clothes hanger marked 'Never Again' during an abortion
rights rally May 3, 2022 outside the US Supreme Court Stefani Reynolds AFP/File

 Today they represent half of all abortions in the United States (in France, by way of comparison, the figure is 70 percent). And their use outside of any medical setting is a "very acceptable" option, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). 

Two drugs are used: first a dose of mifepristone is taken to block the hormones that support a pregnancy; then, 24 to 48 hours later, misoprostol is taken to induce contractions. 

Complications that might require medical help -- an excessive flow of blood, an infection or an allergic reaction -- are rare. 

So, beyond the medical aspect, the real risk to at-home abortions is legal complications. 

The NGO If/When/How has counted 60 cases in which women who allegedly self-managed abortions, or people who assisted them, were arrested, charged or sentenced between 2000 and 2020. 

The group, which says it envisions "a future when all people can self-determine their reproductive lives free from discrimination, coercion or violence," helps find legal representation for such women. 

It fears the trend toward criminalizing abortion will be greatly aggravated if the Supreme Court rules as expected. 

Such a ruling, said Gomperts, "instills fear in people, and especially in health-care providers -- and that is the biggest impact."

New rules for tattoo artists create confusion ahead of EU pigment ban

DutchNews, November 1, 2021

Photo: Depositphotos.com

Tattoo artists in the Netherlands will have to abide by new rules from January, in line with both Dutch and EU legislation, but with two months before the switch, much remains unclear, tattoo shop owners have told broadcaster NOS. 

The biggest changes involve new regulations for inks which contain substances which can cause cancer and genetic mutations, or irritate the skin. 

This means thousands of hazardous chemicals found in tattoo inks and permanent make-up will be restricted from 2022, the European ChemicalsAgency has said. 

Two colours – Pigment Blue 15:3 and Pigment Green 7 – do not yet have safer and technically adequate alternatives and will not be banned until 2023, the agency said. 

Tattoo artist Amanda Remmington told NOS she understands little of the European rules. ‘My colleagues and I have never had a complaint,’ she said. ‘The only colour that causes irritation is red.’ 

The ink ban will also have an impact on larger tattoos which take time to complete and may not now be finished, said tattoo artist Timen from Assen. 

Chaos 

The Netherlands’ most famous tattoo artist Henk Schiffmacher, told the AD in September, he is furious about the new rules. 

‘This is the work of an overzealous civil servant and will create chaos,’ Schiffmacher said. ‘I’ve been doing it for 45 years and now you are telling me I am doing it wrong?…The people in charge don’t know a thing about tattooing, but are being influenced by all kinds of lobbyists when making their decisions.’ 

Coloured ink is only an health risk when it starts to move to other parts of the body, as it does when a tattoo is being removed. 

Hygiene 

The new Dutch rules involve stricter hygiene measures, and also state that the area where tattoos are placed must be separate from the rest of the shop. 

In the longer term, the Netherlands may also raise the minimum age to get a tattoo from 16, or 12 with a parent’s permission and increase training requirements, NOS said. 

Monitoring compliance with the new rules will be up to the Dutch food and product safety board and will start from January, the health ministry has said.

Fast Covid test development speeds up, latest gives result in less than a minute

DutchNews, October 15, 2020 

Photo: Brandon Hartley

A Dutch company has developed a breathalyser test which will almost instantly exclude people who do not carry the coronavirus and which could significantly ease the pressure on testing facilities. 

The device, which is made by Breathomix in Leiden and can detect particles in people’s breath, was tested on 1,800 people in an Amsterdam testing facility. They then had the more time consuming PCR test.

Investigations showed that some 1,350 people could have been sent home immediately had they taken only the breathalyser test. The device was able to exclude coronavirus in three quarters of the participants but was inconclusive in the remaining quarter. 

Despite this it is thought that a large scale application of the test, which takes approximately 45 seconds, including the result, could ease the pressure on testing facilities, some of which are reaching crisis point. 

The health ministry has ordered hundreds of the breathalysers which, on final approval, will be used by testing facilities by the end of next month, health minister Hugo de Jonge said on Thursday. 

TNO 

Meanwhile Dutch research institute TNO announced it has developed a fast test which it claims is as reliable as the PCR  process currently used in nationwide testing centres. 

It too was validated at a facility in the capital and showed a 99% accuracy rate compared to the PCR test when used on 900 people. 

TNO developed a so-called LAMP-test which works at a molecular level and gives a result in 45 minutes to an hour. 

Last week, two fast tests produced by American companies BD and Abbot were approved by the health ministry. Each of these take 15 minutes to come up with a result,and will be used in addition to the normal health board tests.

Experimental treatment ‘drastically’ improves prospects for worst Covid patients

DutchNews, July 21, 2020

Illustration: Depositphotos.com 

An anti-inflammatory drug used in a Dutch hospital to treat the most seriously ill Covid-19 patients has been found to reduce the death rate by 65%. 

The Zuyderland Medisch Centrum in Geleen and Heerlen used corticosteroids, sometimes in combination with other medicines to suppress the immune system, to treat patients who developed cytokine storm syndrome (CSS). 

Around a quarter of Covid-19 patients who are admitted to hospital develop CSS, which occurs when the virus activates large numbers of white blood cells. 

Patients who were treated with an intensive course of glucocorticoids were 65% less likely to die and 71% less likely to need mechanical ventilation, according to the findings published on Tuesday in The Annals of Rheumatic Disease. 

At the beginning of the outbreak in March, 48% of Covid-19 patients being treated for CSS in the Limburg hospital died, but after doctors began using the steroid treatment the death rate fell to 16%. 

Patients were given the treatment for between five and seven days, in combination with the immunosuppressant drug tocilizumab if no improvement was seen by the second day.

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"Some Virus Truths for you to Consider", Streamed, US, Apr 14, 2020 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (>43.09 Min - Reference to the Global Coronavirus crisis and the Immune System) (Text version)

"...... The virus is not killing you.

The virus will often take someone, perhaps, who is weaker, to a level that is dangerous. With that danger, the doctors will put them into a hospital and give the best care that they know how to give. Some of the patients go into that which you call the ICU (Intensive Care Unit). Surrounded by ICU specialists and doctors and nurses who care about them and are doing their best to save their lives, these health care professionals watch their efforts fail. Instead of seeing that which is a normal response within an ICU protocol, or that which is normal for a virus of this kind, they observe something completely different.

They watch a dramatic and quick downturn, and, sometimes, an almost immediate death. They are mystified, since there shouldn’t be this scenario happening, and they’re scratching their heads and saying, “that should not have happened.”

Dear ones, they are correct. Indeed, it should not be that way, and so, there’s another component to this – there is something else happening. This is factual, dear ones, and you can ask the physicians on the front lines and the nurses who have watched and seen those who are put on the ventilators who seem to be recovering, and then they lose them.

There is something else going on, dear ones, and now I will tell you what it is – and it’s not sinister or esoteric. It’s just chemistry. What I tell you now, hopefully, will lead to an understanding, so that, in the future, this virus does not have to be the “killer flu.” It will only be “the flu.” I’m telling you now the potential of what will be discovered and, if you roll your eyes at this, talk to me in a few years and see if you are going to roll your eyes then.

Number One:

Dear ones, your immune system has never seen this. Most of you have a robust immune system, but for those who don’t, your system will overreact to the virus. You might say that the immune system is what is killing the Human Beings, not the virus. The virus will take the dysfunction of your body to a certain level, and then the immune system, which has never seen this before, will completely overreact and cause quick death.

Now, I just gave you a key: If your medical science could encapsulate that immune system so it will not overreact, this flu will never kill another Human. You absolutely know the flu season is coming back. However, it will simply be the flu and it won’t be a killer flu anymore, because you will have figured it out. I just gave you something to work on and to know, and, if you think I am wrong, simply ask those doctors in the ICU if they have seen this phenomenon. They will say, “Yes, and we know there’s something else. We wish we knew what it was.”

Concentrate not on the virus vaccine, but on the immune system. Figure out why this reaction is taking place and work the puzzle of the immune system, so that there is no devastating horror for so many and hurt for so many hearts. Inappropriate death, it is.

You have gone into a habit of looking for an outside cure to always come forward and give you protection. Realize, dear ones, that this is an “add on” to an already wonderful immune system that begs for help. What if you, someday, have no need for any vaccine, and instead, you become super-strong in your resistance? What if everything can be solved and cured by enhancing YOUR system instead of something from the outside? What if this strength comes from organic substances and enhanced support for your own system instead of going to a pill? This would be a new paradigm for mainstream health. ...."

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US pharma firm signs deal with Dutch researchers for coronavirus medicine

DutchNews, May 31, 2020

Illustration: Depositphotos.com

A big US pharmaceuticals company has partnered up with a Dutch researchers to develop a medicine from an antibody which can block infection by coronavirus. 

Erasmus university researcher Frank Grosveld told NOS radio on Sunday evening that the company, which he declined to name, would carry out mass production of a medicine deriving from the antibody after initial trials on animals proved positive. 

‘We have been negotiating for a while with several pharmaceuticals companies and have now reached agreement with one which will produce a medicine in line with protocols’ he said. ‘It will first have to be tested on a number of volunteers and then we can start treating patients.’ 

The company has said it will take five or six months before the medicine has been developed, Grosveld said. 

The Dutch team, which is based in Rotterdam and Amsterdam, did receive a grant of ‘several hundred thousand euros’ to carry out the initial research, Grosveld said. 

Asked if this meant that the Netherlands would get a cheap deal on the eventual medicine, Grosveld said he hoped so, but he did not know. 

In an earlier interview, team leader Berend Jan Bosch said that the patent would remain in the hands of the researchers, while the pharmaceuticals company in question will take a licence to the antibody. 

Two uses 

The antibody has been shown to both inhibit development of coronavirus in hamsters and to combat the disease in animals which have already been infected.

‘This mean that the antibody protects in living organisms, which means we can go through to the next stage in the research, with the US pharmaceuticals company,’ Grosveld said. 

The team first went public with their finding in mid March. The antibody, a remnant of earlier research into coronaviruses like SARS and MERS, was found in a freezer at the Utrecht university lab for animal science. 

The presence of the old material meant the team had a head start in the international scramble to find a medicine or vaccine to combat the virus which has killed 370,000 people worldwide so far.

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Good ventilation key to stopping coronavirus spread: Dutch researchers

DutchNews, May 28, 2020

Photo: Depositphotos.com

Good ventilation in public places, such as trams and nursing homes, is crucial to slow down the spread of coronavirus, according to Dutch researchers. 

A team at the University of Amsterdam have found that small cough droplets, potentially containing virus particles, can float in the air in a room for many minutes, especially when the room is poorly ventilated. 

The results were published in the scientific journal The Lancet Respiratory Medicine on Thursday. 

The researchers asked healthy human guinea pigs to speak and to cough, and used laser light to analyse the droplets that they produced. 

The light picked up large amounts of small droplets (between roughly one and 10 micrometres in size) during both speech and coughing. Larger droplets (up to one millimeter in size) were also produced during coughing. 

The larger droplets fall to the ground within one second and therefore have a much smaller probability of transmitting viruses, the researchers say. However, the small droplets only move very slowly due to the large amount of air drag they experience.

‘After a single cough, it takes about five minutes for the number of small droplets in the air to be halved,’ the researchers said. These tiny droplets are therefore much more dangerous when it comes to possible transmission of coronavirus. 

When the same experiments were repeated in a well-ventilated room, the results improved dramatically. With only mechanical ventilation turned on, half of the droplets disappeared within 2.5 minutes, but in a room that also had a door and window open, the number of droplets was halved after 30 seconds – ten times faster than in the unventilated room. 

Physical distancing 

The results show that despite keeping 1.5 metres apart, spaces like public transport and nursing homes can still be centres for spreading the virus if they are not properly ventilated. 

In addition, if droplets remain in the air for a long time, proximity tracing via smartphone apps will not give a true picture of contact moments, the researchers said. 

The authorities should, the researchers say, consider recommendations to ensure adequate ventilation wherever possible in public spaces to reduce the risk of the virus spreading in droplets. 

Dutch public heath institute RIVM says on its website that aerosols – or showers of droplets – have not yet been shown to have a role in spreading the virus. The virus primarily spreads through ‘large droplets which do not stay in the air long,’ the RIVM says. 

A spokesman told broadcaster NOS that the guidelines are regularly revised. ‘Our experts will look at this research and see if the guidelines should be adapted,’ the spokesman said.

Dutch health council backs ‘cremation by water’ as safe alternative to burial

DutchNews, May 25, 2020

Photo: Depositphotos.com

The national health council is recommending that a new method of disposing of dead bodies using alkaline hydrolysis be added to the list of legal methods. 

Also known as resomation, or water cremation, the process is a safe and sustainable alternative to burial or cremation by fire, although the technical specifications still need to be worked out, the health council said. 

Resomation is based on alkaline hydrolysis: the body is placed in a pressurised vessel that is then filled with a mixture of water and lye, and heated to around 160 degrees. The elevated pressure prevents the body boiling. Instead, the body is broken down into its chemical components, which takes upwards of three hours. 

The process was patented in the US in 1888 and is legal in some US states and other countries but not in the Netherlands. 

Dutch funeral group Yarden, which wants the government to change the law to make resomation legal, has welcomed the council’s ruling. A survey by Yarden in 2017 showed that 23% of people would consider resomation as an alternative to traditional cremations. 

The health council also looked at the option of composting human remains but said at present there is not enough information to say if this technique meets legal and environmental requirements. 

Reform 

Home affairs minister Kajsa Ollongren pledged in January 2019 that the Dutch rules on funerals would be modernised following pressure from D66 MPs. 

Draft legislation is due to be published before the summer and may include an end to the stipulation that bodies be buried after a wait of at least 36 hours after death. According to Jewish and Islamic tradition, people should be buried as soon as possible after death. 

Families may also be able to pick up urns containing the ashes of their relatives from crematoria earlier than the current one-month wait.

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Ministry introduces code word ‘Masker 19’ for domestic abuse

DutchNews, May 1, 2020

Photo: Depositphotos.com

As of Friday victims of domestic violence can use the code word ‘masker 19’ (mask 19) at pharmacies so staff can help them contact social services, the health ministry has announced. 

The same code is already being used in France and Spain. Although no figures are available as yet, help organisations in the Netherlands are afraid incidents of domestic violence have been increasing in the Netherlands over the past weeks because the lockdown is forcing people to spend more time in the home. ‘

Pharmacies provide a safe and trusted environment, pharmacy association KNMP chair Aris Prins told broadcaster NOS. ‘Questions about masks are common and if people ask for ‘masker 19’ it won’t attract much attention,’ he said 

The scheme will make it easier for people to ask for help, Prins said. If they are accompanied by others, staff will contact the relevant service on their behalf. 

Last week, the ministry launched an information campaign aimed urging victims to ask for advice by contacting domestic violence prevention organisation Veilig Thuis (0800 2000). The organisation has also added a chat function to its internet site. 

But not everyone is able to use the phone without alerting an abusive partner so a ‘low threshold method is needed to alert help victims of domestic violence in a particularly difficult time’, health minister Hugo de Jonge said. 

People who are in immediate danger must call the police at 112, the ministry said.

Study investigates if mother’s milk could protect against the coronavirus

DutchNews, April 24, 2020 - By Senay Boztas

Photo: Depositphotos

Researchers at the UMC teaching hospital in Amsterdam are studying whether antibodies in mother’s milk could have a preventative effect against the coronavirus. 

Britt van Keulen, a doctor at its mother’s milk bank is recruiting 30 breastfeeding mothers who have had the coronavirus and who are willing to donate some of their milk for testing. 

‘We know that mother’s milk protects newborns against respiratory infections, because it contains antibodies,’ she said in a press release. ‘By breastfeeding, the mother passes on her own antibodies to her child.’ 

She expects that coronavirus antibodies would also find their way into breastmilk, based on reports of a pregnant woman during the SARS epidemic in 2003. ‘This woman was seriously ill with the SARS virus and gave birth to a healthy baby at 38 weeks,’ she said. ‘Her breastmilk contained antibodies against the SARS virus. The coronavirus is very similar to the SARS virus – it is in the same family – so I think that corona antibodies will also be passed along into mother’s milk.’ 

However, even if enough antibodies are found in the breastmilk of mothers who have developed immunity to the coronavirus, the team will then have to test whether these survive a necessary pasteurisation process. This is a standard process for donor milk which is given to premature babies, for instance. 

She said that if this is the case, the milk could be given as a preventative medicine for vulnerable groups such as newborn babies or even older people. ‘It might be a strange image having old people drink mother’s milk as protection,’ she added. ‘But it is still logical, because antibodies in the milk would protect them against the coronavirus.’ 

She told the Parool that if a newborn baby is given a glass of milk a day, older people might need more to represent their greater body weight. 

‘Why would we joke about this?’ she reportedly added. ‘Milk in the supermarket comes from someone else, namely a cow who walks with muddy udders through a meadow. We have simply accepted this image, so why would milk from a clean mother’s breast be such a crazy notion?’ 

Around 3,500 Dutch women between 25 and 40 are confirmed to have had the coronavirus, reports the Parool, although it is not known how many are breastfeeding. 

DutchNews.nl has contacted the UMC for a comment.

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Netherlands plans ‘world’s first’ scientific test of anti-malarial drugs against corona

DutchNews, April 10, 2020 

Photo: Depositphotos.com

The effectiveness of anti-malarial drugs against the coronavirus will be formally studied in hospitals across the Netherlands from next week, reports NU.nl. 

Across the world, and including in the Netherlands, former anti-malarial drugs chloroquine and the related hydroxychloroquine have been used for patients suffering extreme symptoms from the coronavirus – even though it is not known precisely how they would work. 

Andy Hoepelman, of UMC Utrecht, told NU.nl that a national study he is co-ordinating would try to investigate the precise impact of these drugs on the virus. 

‘Chloroquine used to be used to combat malaria and hydroxychloroquine is regularly prescribed for rheumatism and the auto-immune disease SLE,’ he reportedly said, adding that small and unpublished Chinese studies had looked at their effects on corona. 

‘The results seemed to vary and most studies had no control group at all. Without a control group, you can’t say whether treatment with chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine works better than standard hospital treatment.’ 

The Dutch study will look at the impact of the drugs on patients who have been admitted to hospital but are not in intensive care, comparing their effects with those on standard treatment. 

Hoepelman reportedly said that this would be the first such study worldwide to see whether the drugs stop symptoms from worsening and patients from ending up in intensive care. 

Because the drugs have previously been licensed for use, their side effects – such as impact on the heart – are already known and can be monitored, he added. 

Last month, a pharmaceuticals company in Zeewolde that makes chloroquine was put under police guard.

Roche urged to share info with Dutch corona test labs: FTM

DutchNews, March 26, 2020

Photo: Depositphotos.com

Swiss pharmaceuticals company Roche is unable to meet demand for coronavirus testing kits but is unwilling to share key information with labs to help them carry out mass testing, Dutch investigative website FollowThe Money said on Thursday. 

Most Dutch testing labs work with Roche equipment and depend on the Swiss firm for supplies. And due to special deals known as a ‘vendor lock-in’ they are not able to turn to alternative sources to stock up on essential items, FTM says. 

The Volkskrant reported earlier that most Dutch labs use Roche testing equipment and that the shortage of lysis buffer – a liquid used to break open cells – is one reason why the Netherlands is not carrying out mass testing. 

According to broadcaster NOS, Roche has 80% of the Dutch market. 

Commitment 

Roche told DutchNews.nl is a statement that it is committed to delivering as many tests as possible to areas where they can be most effective. However, to safeguard supply, the company said it strongly advised focusing testing on patients with symptoms, not with broad testing. 

‘Today, media in the Netherlands reported that Roche Netherlands is not providing enough test material to laboratories and asked Roche to publish the recipe for one reagent, called lysis buffer solution. We clearly state that this story is wrong,’ Roche said. 

‘There is no patent protection on lysis buffer itself. Roche will not guarantee safety and reliability of the quality and test results if the reagents required for the test are manufactured outside our own production network as well as those qualified production sites we are already working with. Safety and reliability of our components have been approved by regulatory authorities.’ 

Talks 

Meanwhile, health minister Hugo de Jonge has told parliament he is in talks with Roche about the recipe for making the liquid so that Dutch pharmacies can make it themselves and expand testing in the Netherlands. 

‘Talks are underway. We are doing all we can to get the formula,’ he said. 

The government has appointed Feike Sijbesma, the former chief executive of DSM, as its corona test expert. Sijbesma will focus on assessing and the availability of tests on the market and those being developed.

Blood samples to be tested to track immunity to coronavirus

DutchNews, March 19, 2020 

Photo: Depositphotos.com

Blood banks in the Netherlands are to test samples for coronavirus in order to track the level of immunity in the population. 

Blood bank operator Sanquin said the tests would be carried out regularly on incoming blood and plasma donations to monitor the presence of antibodies, which indicate that a person has developed resistance to the virus. 

There are around 331,000 blood and plasma donors in the Netherlands, of whom 10,000 give blood weekly. Plasma donors are particularly interesting because they donate on average five times a year, which allows researchers to track the spread of immunity. 

Prime minister Mark Rutte said on Monday night that building up ‘herd immunity’ was one way of protecting people from the virus unitl a vaccine can be developed. 

His statement was criticised in some quarters for suggesting that the government was deliberately allowing people to be exposed to Covid-19. The disease control agency RIVM has since clarified that herd immunity is not ‘an aim in itself’. 

Microbiolologist Hans Zaaijer at Sanquin said around 99% of donors had given permission for their blood samples to be tested. The data will be stored anonymously. 

He told AD: ‘Around 2000 blood donors come to the blood bank every day. That’s a good representative sample of people aged between 18 and 79 across the country. 

‘We will measure the first samples this week and if all goes well we will measure the entire stock two weeks from now. We’ll begin with the 10,000 people in the Netherlands who donate blood in one week.’

What the new coronavirus measures in the Netherlands mean for you

DutchNews, March 13, 2020 

Empty shelves in a Dutch supermarket. Photo: DutchNews.nl 

The Dutch government on Thursday announced new nationwide measures to try to contain the coronavirus epidemic in the Netherlands. Here’s what you need to know. 

Social contacts

• If you have a cold, a cough, sore throat or a fever stay home. Avoid contact with others. Only call your doctor if your symptoms get worse. 
• Gatherings of more than 100 people have been cancelled. This includes public places such as museums, concerts, theatres, professional and amateur sports events and matches. 
• Churches and mosques are also cancelling their services 
• There are currently no restrictions on visiting a cafe or restaurant, as long as you do not have any symptoms 
• Work from home if possible or stagger your working times. 
• Try to avoid close contact with the elderly and people with weakened immune systems. 
• In particular, elderly people and those with weakened immune systems are asked to avoid large gatherings and public transport. 
• Healthcare workers are being asked to stay home only if they have symptoms including a fever. They are also being asked not to travel abroad. 

Education

• Universities and hbo colleges have been requested to offer online lectures and the university and college associations have said they will stop all physical forms of education for the time being, including exams. 
• Children who have a cold, cough or fever should stay at home. 
• Primary schools, secondary schools, secondary vocational schools (MBO) and childcare centres will remain open as usual. This, the government says, is because children and young people are not high-risk groups and closing schools would have a major impact on society without contributing significantly to reducing the spread of coronavirus. 

The measures apply up to and including March 31. 

Hygiene 

The Dutch public health institute RIVM and World Health Organisation say everyone should follow these instructions to prevent infection: 

• Avoid shaking hands and physical contact 
• Wash your hands frequently and thoroughly with soap or alcohol rub 
• Sneeze into a tissue or  your elbow 
• Use paper tissues and dispose of them immediately 
• Stay away at least one metre away from people who are sneezing or coughing 
• Avoid touching your face with your hands, which may have picked up the virus 

The RIVM says face masks should only be worn by medical staff. Most of the paper masks used by the general public are worthless and offer a false sense of security, officials say. 

Coronavirus in the Netherlands, the questionsyou want answered 

Tests 

Tests for coronavirus can only be requested via the local health board or a hospital and it takes around 24 hours for the test results to come through. 

Testing is currently only being carried out on people who have worsening symptoms and have been in an at risk area or in contact with people who have coronavirus. 

The RIVM has an interactive map showing where corona infections are being confirmed. 

Can I still go on holiday? 

The Dutch foreign affairs ministry has up-to-date advice on foreign travel and has set up a red to green coding system for coronavirus. Currently China, Iran and Italy should be avoided for all but essential travel. The Dutch government website has more information in English. 

The US has imposed a travel ban on all incoming flights from the EU from Saturday. 

Official information sources in English 

Dutch public health institute RIVM 
Dutch government website 
The government has also published flyers in a variety of languages about the recommended hygiene measures.

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