The COVID-19 pandemic in the Netherlands has resulted in 8,657,644 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 22,986 deaths.
The virus reached the Netherlands on 27 February 2020, when its first COVID-19 case was confirmed in Tilburg. It involved a 56-year-old Dutchman who had arrived in the Netherlands from Italy. The virus was confirmed to have reached Europe on 24 January 2020, when the first COVID-19 case was identified in Bordeaux - France. As of 31 January 2021, there are 978,475 confirmed cases of infections and 13,998 confirmed deaths. The first death occurred on 6 March, when an 86-year-old patient died in Rotterdam.
On the advice of the Outbreak Management Team (OMT), under supervision of Jaap van Dissel, measures were taken by the Third Rutte cabinet for the public health to prevent the spread of this viral disease, including the "intelligent lockdown". The government strategy on pandemic control has been criticised for the refusal to acknowledge the role of asymptomatic spread and the role of masks in preventing spread, as well as for the lack of testing capacity, in particular during the first half of 2020. In March 2020, Prime Minister Mark Rutte called for herd immunity as an important method to stop the pandemic. On 23 January 2021, as the government imposed a nationwide 9:00 p.m. curfew in a context of emergence of the British variant, the worst riots in 40 years broke out across the country.
Since the end of November 2021, the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant is spreading in parts of Europe (i.e. UK, Denmark and France). The number of registered new infections has risen strongly. There was a lockdown in the Netherlands from 19 December 2021 to (at least) 14 January 2022.
As of 10 September 2022, a total of 36,105,753 vaccine doses have been administered.
The COVID-19 pandemic in the Netherlands has resulted in 8,657,973 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 22,986 deaths.
The virus reached the Netherlands on 27 February 2020, when its first COVID-19 case was confirmed in Tilburg. It involved a 56-year-old Dutchman who had arrived in the Netherlands from Italy. The virus was confirmed to have reached Europe on 24 January 2020, when the first COVID-19 case was identified in Bordeaux - France. As of 31 January 2021, there are 978,475 confirmed cases of infections and 13,998 confirmed deaths. The first death occurred on 6 March, when an 86-year-old patient died in Rotterdam.
On the advice of the Outbreak Management Team (OMT), under supervision of Jaap van Dissel, measures were taken by the Third Rutte cabinet for the public health to prevent the spread of this viral disease, including the "intelligent lockdown". The government strategy on pandemic control has been criticised for the refusal to acknowledge the role of asymptomatic spread and the role of masks in preventing spread, as well as for the lack of testing capacity, in particular during the first half of 2020. In March 2020, Prime Minister Mark Rutte called for herd immunity as an important method to stop the pandemic. On 23 January 2021, as the government imposed a nationwide 9:00 p.m. curfew in a context of emergence of the British variant, the worst riots in 40 years broke out across the country.
Since the end of November 2021, the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant is spreading in parts of Europe (i.e. UK, Denmark and France). The number of registered new infections has risen strongly. There was a lockdown in the Netherlands from 19 December 2021 to (at least) 14 January 2022.
As of 10 September 2022, a total of 36,105,753 vaccine doses have been administered.
Background
On 12 January, the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed that a novel coronavirus was the cause of a respiratory illness in a cluster of people in Wuhan, Hubei, China, who had initially come to the attention of the WHO on 31 December 2019.
As of 22 January 2020, the country's main international airport Schiphol was not taking extra measures against the spread of the virus, stating the lack of direct flights from or to Wuhan.
On 29 January the RIVM stated that the virus did not appear highly contagious, thus spread of COVID-19 in the Netherlands was unlikely.
February 2020
22 February – 1 March: spring holiday for Dutch south and middle regions, where a significant number of families went skiing to Trentino, a northern province of Italy.
26 February: the Dutch foreign ministry updated its travel advice for Italy, advising citizens not to travel to areas affected by the COVID-19 outbreak.
27 February: the first confirmed case of COVID-19, a man from Loon op Zand who had been in the Lombardy region of Italy was admitted to Elisabeth-TweeSteden Hospital in Tilburg.
28 February: a second case confirmed, a woman from Amsterdam who had visited the Lombardy region in Italy was in home isolation in Diemen. She is an employee of the Academic Medical Center in Amsterdam.
29 February: third and fourth cases confirmed, the husband and the youngest child of the second case. On the same day the wife and daughter of the first case were also confirmed to have the virus. Another case is a woman from Delft, who had recently been travelling to Italy and is isolated at home.
March 2020
1–10 March
1 March: three new cases were confirmed: a 49-year-old woman from Nieuwendijk who had been hospitalised at Erasmus MC in Rotterdam, a woman in Tilburg and a man in Dalen, Coevorden. The 49-year-old woman had been admitted to the Beatrix Hospital in Gorinchem on 21 February before being transferred to Rotterdam later. She arrived at the Beatrix Hospital with respiratory problems and stayed in intensive care for a week. A test for SARS-CoV-2 was not conducted since she had no connection to infected areas or people. Therefore, her infection went unnoticed for over a week. On 1 March it was announced that she had COVID-19 and that she had been relocated to Erasmus MC due to her deteriorating condition earlier. Since then the Beatrix Hospital went into lock-down out of precaution for a few days. Only personnel was allowed to enter and leave the building. The hospital fully reopened on 5 March, after all employees had tested negative.
4 March: all of Northern Italy had an "only necessary travel"-advice. Some tourists were still in Italy, including a group of 900 students, something which received a lot of media attention. In the Netherlands the total number of cases climbed to 38, which included one person passing through the Netherlands who was isolated in Hoofddorp. The next day this number more than doubled to 82. According to Bruno Bruins, Minister for Medical Care, this was due to a catch-up in conducted tests.
6 March: the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) announced the first death due to COVID-19, an 86-year-old patient. The RIVM stated that most COVID-19 patients were infected in northern Italy and advised inhabitants of the North Brabant province to reduce their social contacts if they showed symptoms.
9 March: the total number of cases was 321, of which more than one-third were found in North Brabant. Prime Minister Mark Rutte asked citizens to stop shaking hands and asked people in North Brabant to remote work if possible.
10 March: stricter measures were introduced in the province of North Brabant. Larger events were banned, including professional football, a number of dance festivals, carnival parades and concerts. A scholarship program was cancelled at the University of Eindhoven. In addition to this, Tilburg Mayor Theo Weterings called to limit social contacts for a week.
11–20 March
12 March: the government announced new measures that will be in effect through the end of the month. All events (concerts, sports) and all meetings with more than 100 people are now forbidden and the RIVM is encouraging people to remote work. The restriction also applies to museums. All Dutch universities will suspend physical teaching until 1 April, but online teaching will continue. Schools remain open.
13 March, the government cancelled all flights from China, Iran, Italy, and South Korea, the countries with the highest number of coronavirus cases, for two weeks. Flights leaving the destinations before 18:00 on that day could still land in the Netherlands.
15 March: the total number of cases was 1,135. The Municipal Health Service (Gemeentelijke gezondheidsdienst, GGD) estimated that as of this day, 6,000 people in the Netherlands had been infected, as since 12 March people with mild complaints had not been tested any more. Public measures were also tightened up. Schools and childcare centres will remain closed until 6 April, as well as cafés, restaurants, sports clubs, saunas, sex clubs and coffeeshops.
16 March: in the evening Prime Minister Mark Rutte addressed the nation about the coronavirus. It was the first time a Prime Minister had addressed the nation since the 1973 oil crisis. In his speech he announced that the government chooses not to resort to population confinement measures, but to rely on the measures taken earlier to try to assert maximum control over the spread of the virus. Reasoning that the virus is here to stay, the preferred approach would be to tackle the epidemic by building population immunity.
17 March: the total number of confirmed cases was 1,705, of which 314 patients had been admitted to the hospital. Arie Slob notified that schools could stay open for the sole purpose of letting final exam candidates finish their last schoolwork. Schools will only open if certain conditions are met. This measure is taken to ensure that final exam candidates are prepared for the national exam at the start of May.
18 March: the Minister for Medical Care, Bruno Bruins, became unwell during a parliamentary debate and collapsed. On 19 March he resigned from his position. In a press conference it was announced that Health Minister Hugo de Jonge would from then on handle the coronavirus pandemic in the Netherlands.
19 March: a traveller from the Netherlands was described as "Patient Zero of the Winelands" in South Africa.
20 March: in a press conference it was announced that Martin van Rijn would become the new Minister for Medical Care. In the evening, King Willem-Alexander addressed the nation due to the coronavirus outbreak.
21–31 March
22 March: the NOC*NSF (Dutch Olympic Committee*Dutch Sports Federation) sent a letter to the IOC stating the advice that the 2020 Summer Olympics only can take place when the coronavirus crisis is under control worldwide. The NOC also asked for more certainty for the athletes. The letter was supported by most of the National Sport Federations.
23 March: stricter social distancing rules were announced in a press conference.
26 March: the NOC*NSF (Dutch Olympic Committee*Dutch Sports Federation) provided hundreds of cooling vests for healthcare personnel at the intensive care departments in several hospitals. Doctors have to work in warm conditions among others due to the protective clothing they have to wear. The vests would initially be used by the Dutch athletes at the 2020 Summer Olympics.
29 March: the total number of positive coronavirus cases in the country surpassed 10,000. Upon the announcement, RIVM stated that 'the number of hospitalised patients and the number of deaths are increasing less quickly than would have been expected without measures'. It further said that since testing was done mostly only for the very sick and healthcare workers, the actual number of infections is likely to be far higher.
31 March: in a press conference it was announced that all measures initiated on 15 March will be extended until 28 April.
April 2020
7 April: Prime Minister Mark Rutte announced in a press conference that the measures could possibly be loosened a bit after 28 April, however getting back to 'normal' will take considerable time. Furthermore, the Dutch Government are researching possibilities to use an app to register corona infections and use this app to warn others who were in proximity of an infected person. However, concerns were raised whether this app would harm privacy.
8 April: this day marked the first day since the outbreak in the Netherlands that the number of corona patients in intensive care units declined. It was a sign to many that the curve was 'flattened' in the Netherlands.
15 April: Prime Minister Mark Rutte held a press conference. The numbers of infections, deaths and hospitalisations were declining. He announced that loosening the measures could only be done in small steps, and with several restrictions in mind: keeping 1.5 meter distance, sufficient health care capacity and adequate protection of older and/or weaker people.
20 April: a total number of 32,655 people tested positive for COVID-19 and 3,684 people died due to the coronavirus. Admittance to hospitals and ICUs was steadily declining, leading to conclusions that the lock-down measures had the desired effect.
21 April: All measures were extended until 20 May. An exception was made for elementary schools: these will open on 11 May. Mark Rutte also announced that secondary education would gradually open after 2 June. Furthermore, events that require a permit are forbidden until 1 September. Among others this means that football matches are also not allowed, resulting in the end of the 2019–20 Eredivisie season.
23 April: research of the RIVM indicated that the first infection in the Netherlands was possibly on 15 February, almost two weeks before the first confirmed infection. Among others this research was based on patients who had similar symptoms but were not tested for COVID-19.
26 April: COVID-19 was confirmed in mink at two fur farms in the Netherlands, the agriculture ministry confirmed.
28 April: after the Netherlands Trade and Investment Office was renamed "Netherlands Office Taipei" to reflect the increased scope of cooperation between the two countries, the Chinese ambassador expressed discontent, demanded a clarification of the name change, and reminded the Dutch government to dutifully adhere to the one-China principle. The Global Times warned of a backlash and claimed that users of Chinese social media sites had called for China to immediately stop exporting medical supplies to the Netherlands and that Chinese citizens were demanding a boycott of Dutch products and cancelling their travel plans to the Netherlands.