Dutch court urged to keep Covid curfew

The Hague: The Dutch government asked appeals judges Friday to overturn a court order scrapping a coronavirus curfew, comparing the pandemic to waters overwhelming the low-lying country’s famed dykes.

The hearing came on a crunch day for the Netherlands’ anti-Covid measures with the senate set to vote on a fast-track law that would reinstate the curfew even if the government loses the case.

A lower court judge ordered the government to immediately lift the curfew on Tuesday, saying that such measures could only be used in sudden national emergencies such as a dyke breach. Government lawyer Reimer Veldhuis said that the curfew was introduced on January 23 to stop a “worrisome” surge of Covid-19 cases due to a new variant first found in Britain.

“Just before the introduction of the curfew, the water splashed against the dyke,” Veldhuis told the appeals court in The Hague. “To stay in the metaphor, the water level had to go down as quickly as possible to make room for the new wave.” Judges have allowed the 9pm to 4:30am curfew, the first in the Netherlands since the Nazi occupation in World War II, to remain in effect pending the outcome of Friday’s hearing.

Meanwhile, the Covid-19 pandemic has seen a sharp slowdown in the number of new cases, which have been cut in half from a peak in early January, according to data gathered by AFP on Friday. Here is the state of play worldwide: The number of new daily cases this past week dipped to its lowest level in four months, standing at 362,000, according to the AFP tally.

New infections dropped by 12 percent over the week, after reaching a record 743,000 in the first half of January. Since that peak the number of new cases worldwide has dropped by half (51 percent less). It is the sharpest and most prolonged decline since the start of the pandemic.

The number of confirmed cases only reflects a fraction of the actual number of infections, as different countries have different counting practices and levels of testing. The only region to see an acceleration of the pandemic was the Middle East, where new cases increased by 11 percent. Every other area of the world saw a slackening off, with cases down 28 percent in the United States and Canada, nine percent in Africa, Asia and Europe, and seven percent in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The biggest decrease was in Portugal, where the number of new cases dropped by 51 percent, at 2,100 new cases per day. Bolivia had the next big drop at minus 41 percent, (800 cases per day), Spain (minus 37 percent, 11,500), the United States (28 percent fewer, 72,800) and Colombia (minus 26 percent, 4,700).

Iraq for the second consecutive week is the country where the epidemic is picking up most speed, with 62 percent more, or 2,900 new cases per day. Iraq has re-imposed partial lockdown measures after detecting the UK-based strain of the virus, which is thought to be more contagious than earlier forms.

Jordan follows with 44 percent more, or 2,100 new cases, then Hungary (23 percent, 1,700), Poland (18 percent, 6,300) and Austria (15 percent more, or 1,500 cases). The ten sharpest rises of the week were recorded in the Middle East and Europe.

Although seeing a major decline in cases, the US remains the country with by far the highest number of new infections, with 72,800 per day on average, a 28 percent decrease over the previous week.

Brazil follows with a stable 45,200, and France (18,600, minus two percent). On a per-capita basis, the Czech Republic recorded the highest number of infections, at 544 cases per 100,000 people. The US also again registered the most deaths over the past week, with 2,566 per day on average, followed by Brazil (1,037), Mexico (982), the UK (551) and Russia (463).

Meantime, on a recent rainy evening in East London, dozens of young people lined up outside a cramped community hub to collect rice, vegetables and other food essentials. In the line were foreign students who came to Britain to pursue their dreams of higher education, but have found themselves plunged into pandemic-driven poverty.

“Finding food here is hard — prices are higher compared to India,” said Jay Patel, an Indian student among those waiting outside the Newham Community Project, a local charity handing out the foodstuffs.

The 19-year-old, who is studying at the University of Greenwich in southeast London, said he has been unable to get a part-time job during the health crisis and could not ask his family back in India for money.

The food bank, which conducts the handouts three nights a week, has become a lifeline for Patel and other foreign students facing a similar plight. “I actually arrived at the wrong time,” he added of coming to the UK.

“It’s a very difficult situation. Without this support, I guess we would have to start starving.” Britain — which is among the hardest hit countries in Europe from the coronavirus, registering nearly 120,000 deaths and severe economic fallout — is a popular destination for foreign students.