The Netherlands: Face masks are back, more working at home, as Dutch bring back anti-Covid rules

The Netherlands is bringing in new measures to control coronavirus in a bid to reverse the sharp rise in new cases, and tougher rules are also in the pipeline if there is no improvement. The new plans were outlined by ministers at a press conference on Tuesday evening, shortly after officials raised the risk level to ‘severe’ now that the average number of hospital admissions per day is above 100.

Although social distancing will not be compulsory, it is the government’s ‘urgent advice’, prime minister Mark Rutte told a press conference on Tuesday evening .

Read more at: Face masks are back, more working at home, as Dutch bring back anti-Covid rules - DutchNews.nl

US Economy: S&P 500, Dow close at record highs, dollar gains at end of tumultuous year

All three major indexes gained ground, with the Dow and S&P 500 picking up steam in the session’s final minutes to exit 2020 at record highs. Over the course of a historic year, the indexes both roared and plummeted as economic shutdowns to contain the coronavirus brought markets to their knees.

Read more at:S&P 500, Dow close at record highs, dollar gains at end of tumultuous year | Reuters

The Netherlands: Weekly coronavirus update: 76.548 total cases in the Netherlands

The weekly report from the RIVM (National Institute for Public Health and Environment) reveals that, since the update last week, another 5.427 people in the Netherlands have tested positive for COVID-19, the illness that is caused by the new coronavirus. This means that the new total of infected people is 76.548.

Of the 76.548 people infected, another 17 people have died since last Tuesday*, September 1, bringing the death toll to 6.244. In total, 12.225 (+43) patients have been admitted to hospital. As not all people are getting tested, the true number of people infected with the new coronavirus is higher than reported.

*There may be a delay between the day of death and the day that it is reported.

Read more at: 
Weekly coronavirus update: 76.548 total cases in the Netherlands

US Labor statistics: 6.6 million Americans filed for unemployed benefits last week, bringing the coronavirus total to over 17 million

Economist say the U.S. unemployment rate is now 12 or 13 percent, the worst since the Great Depression. This brings the pandemic total to over 17 million9

Read more at:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/04/09/66-million-americans-filed-unemployed-last-week-bringing-pandemic-total-over-17-million/

Netherlands: Electric Car Share Jumps To 7.3% - by Zachary Shahan

The Netherlands has long been one of the top plug-in vehicle markets. Norway far and away wins the prize for highest market share (Tesla alone accounted for 31% of new vehicle sales in March and all fully electric vehicles combined accounted for 58.5% of sales), but the Netherlands is perhaps the country most closely following Norway’s lead.

In March, 10% of new vehicle sales were sales of fully electric cars, and the Tesla Model 3 was the top selling vehicle of any type, with nearly double the sales (deliveries/registrations) of the #2 Ford Focus (2,195 versus 1,187). In the first quarter as a whole, fully electric cars had 7.32% market share, up from 3.15% in the first quarter of 2018.

It’s been a little more than a year since I was in Amsterdam. It seemed like electric vehicles, especially Teslas, were every where at that time. I can’t imagine how much more that’s the case today and will be by the end of the year.


Read more at: Netherlands Electric Car Share Jumps To 7.3%, Fastned Revenue Triples | CleanTechnica