THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The Netherlands was inadequately ready for the onslaught of the coronavirus pandemic two years in the past and the federal government paid inadequate consideration to the risk to individuals in care houses, in keeping with an impartial inquiry launched Wednesday.
The Dutch Security Board stated authorities within the Netherlands, the place greater than 21,000 persons are confirmed to have died of COVID-19, “turned overly fixated” on hospitals within the early days of the pandemic whereas focusing too little consideration on what it referred to as “an unprecedented influence” on nursing houses, schooling, cultural establishments, and enterprise.
The security board’s chairman, former Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem, referred to as the pandemic the nation’s greatest social disaster n many years.
“The Netherlands proved to be weak,” Dijsselbloem stated. “This was as a result of constructions the federal government had in place for the well being sector and the disaster response: they fell quick given the character and scope of the disaster.”
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The 313-page report, the primary in a deliberate collection by the protection board, offers with the pandemic from its inception by way of September 2020.
Its publication got here a day after Dutch Well being Minister Ernst Kuipers introduced that the Netherlands would scrap nearly all pandemic restrictions by the tip of the month.
The report was vital of the federal government’s strategy to care houses, the place about half of the nation’s COVID-related deaths occurred within the months main as much as September 2020, calling it a “silent catastrophe.”
The security board, which stated it was essential to be taught from the disaster, made 10 suggestions aimed toward strengthening preparedness for future crises.
The report included a written response by former Well being Minister Hugo de Jonge, who was a key participant within the political dealing with of the pandemic. He defended the nation’s strategy whereas acknowledging errors,
“Many events and folks — together with in my division — delivered extraordinary work. Issues went nicely, errors had been made, there are nations which have achieved higher and fewer nicely,” De Jonge wrote.
He stated the federal government’s care residence insurance policies “didn’t stand alone, however fashioned an essential a part of the broader technique to guard weak individuals.”
Observe all of AP’s pandemic protection at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic
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