6 April 2020 ISSN: 2560-1628 2020 No. 11 WORKING PAPER Report Series on Chinese and European Actions Project Manager: WU Baiyi In Fighting against Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Project Coordinator: CHEN Xin The Coronavirus Outbreak and Its Containment Measures in Benelux Countries Zeren Langjia Kiadó: Kína-KKE Intézet Nonprofit Kft. Szerkesztésért felelős személy: Chen Xin Kiadásért felelős személy: Wu Baiyi 1052 Budapest Petőfi Sándor utca 11. +36 1 5858 690 [email protected] china-cee.eu The Coronavirus Outbreak and Its Containment Measures in Benelux Countries Zeren Langjia1 Abstract Europe, along with the rest part of the world, is undergoing what people now call the coronavirus crisis, but there is no idea about when this crisis will end. To date, as countries have weak knowledge of the coronavirus and its potential impact, it’s far too early to make any firm conclusions on this entire situation. Nevertheless, it is of great importance to observe the situation in Europe from national and regional perspectives as European countries do have variations in their coronavirus containment policies and measures. Benelux countries are small EU Member States, but they have a relatively high number of coronavirus confirmed cases and deaths. In particular, as of 5 April 2020, Belgium and the Netherlands are ranked the fifth and sixth worst-affected EU countries behind Spain, Italy, Germany and France. In this paper, the author tries to chronologically follow the evolution of the coronavirus outbreak in Benelux countries, explores and interprets their containment measures taken, and gives some thoughts about the coronavirus crisis and its potential impact. Key words: Coronavirus outbreak; Containment measures; Benelux; Further thoughts Introduction As of 4 April, according to the data of the worldometer.info2, the coronavirus outbreak, known as COVID-19, is affecting 205 countries and territories around the world, of which many European countries are seeing steep rises in infections and deaths. The website, based upon the total confirmed coronavirus cases of each country, ranks the three Benelux countries (Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg) 11th, 12th and 35th out of all these affected countries respectively. Considering the relatively small population (17, 11 and 0.6 million respectively), 1 Zeren Langjia, Ph.D. in EU Studies, Assistant Researcher, Institute of European Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Dr. Langjia is currently Based in Budapest and in charge of research coordination at the China-CEE Institute. 2 “COVID-19 CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC”, worldometer.info, 5 April 2020. Retrieved 5 April 2020. 1 the Benelux is witnessing a fast growing and high number of coronavirus infections, which is exerting great impact on many aspects of people’s daily life and their behaviours. In this paper, the author tries to follow the developmental evolution of coronavirus infections in Benelux and explore the reasons behind the steep rises in the coronavirus cases, analyses the coronavirus containment measures taken by Benelux countries, and gives some thoughts on the coronavirus outbreak, its impact and its challenges to the Benelux and the world in a wider sense. Evolution of the COVID-19 Outbreak in Benelux Countries BelgiuM Phase one: 29 January to 29 February Belgium had its first confirmed Coronavirus case on 4 February, which is actually the only confirmed case in January and February, but the then situation was not serious and seemed under control. Belgian Minister of Health Maggie De Block said, the country works in three phases according to the development of the outbreak:3 Phase 1: That means that the virus is kept out and that people with complaints are checked. Phase 2: That means that the virus is already passed on in our country. If the virus is there, the main focus is on isolation. Possible patients are tested, and the people around him or her are also tested. There is also a European system for notifying each other. Stage 3: That means there really is an outbreak, and many people are getting infected. Italy is currently in phase 3. Then the focus is on medical care. As of 25 February, De Block said that Belgium was still in phase 1 and “it is now mainly a matter of waiting, adjusting and seeing that the hospitals are ready” 4. The country did not have the plan to extra check Belgian tourists who visited Italy. Health Minister further added5, it makes no sense to extra check these tourists and close the border. Of course, quarantine is not 3 Hanne Decré, “Minister De Block: ‘Kans is reëel dat coronavirus naar ons land komt, maar er is een plan’” (in Dutch), 25 FeBruary 2020. Retrieved 1 April 2020. 4 Hanne Decré, “Minister De Block: ‘Kans is reëel dat coronavirus naar ons land komt, maar er is een plan’” (in Dutch), 25 FeBruary 2020. Retrieved 1 April 2020. 5 Hanne Decré, “Minister De Block: ‘Kans is reëel dat coronavirus naar ons land komt, maar er is een plan’” (in Dutch), 25 FeBruary 2020. Retrieved 1 April 2020. 2 supposed to be a measure at all for this stage. According to De Block, Belgium was prepared for the possible outbreak of the Coronavirus in the country. However, the fact that Belgium did not extra check Belgians returning from Italy has hints of what’s going to come later. Phase two: from 1 March After Belgium found the second Coronavirus case on 1 March, the country entered the phase 2 of its health risk containment strategy, which means that official measures would focus on containing the virus from spreading further inside the country, every person whom the infected patients had close contact with is identified, but those who showed no symptoms were allowed to resume their routine activities without requirements for quarantine.6 Although the number of infected cases was slowly increasing, it seems the patients’ whereouts were traceable and the whole situation was under control. However, some experts criticized the government for lack of measures and called for wider testing.7 According to research, patients without symptoms may also infect other people. Thus, symptom-free patients, who were not in quarantine, probably expanded the infections before they showed symptoms at later time. Of the ten new cases on 4 March, nine patients recently returned from Italy. On the same say, the European Defence Aganecy confirmed that one of its senior staff tested positive, who had a trip to Italy and thus became the first case in the EU agencies.8 It is said that this senior official had meeting with around thirty other European officials after he came back to Belgium. On 6 March, the Ministry of Health confirmed for the first time that infections occurred on Belgium territory. 9 Of course, the confirmed cases are the minimal number of infections because the confirmed number depends upon how many samples are taken for test. One of the top limitations for testing is the lack of reagents. On 10 March, the Federal Government advised against indoor events with more than 1000 people to curb the outbreak, but Prime Minister Sophie Wilmès said that it is not a ban but a recommendation. 10 This measure probably did not do any tangible contribution to 6 GaBriela Galindo, “Belgium enters Phase 2 for coronavirus: what does it mean?”, 2 March 2020, The Brussels Time. Retrieved 1 April 2020. 7 Pieter HuyBerechts, Pieter Lesaffer, Veerle Beel, Sam Reyntjens, Andreas Rotty, “Experts disagree aBout coronavirus approach: ‘Patient would not have Been found if we had followed government guidelines’”, 2 March 2020, GVA. Retrieved 1 April 2020. 8 Gerardo Fortuna, "First confirmed case of COVID-19 in the EU institutions", 4 March 2020, Euractiv.com. Retrieved 1 April 2020. 9 “2020 coronavirus pandemic in Belgium”, Wikipedia. Retrieved 1 April 2020. 10 "Zeg alles af, of we stevenen op Italiaanse toestanden af" (in Dutch), 11 March 2020, De Standaard. Retrieved 1 April 2020. 3 containing the spread the virus as Coronavirus spread does not need one thousand people. Instead, the virus can spread very fast through human contact in small groups. On the other hand, the government did encourage companies to let employees telework, but had no objection to outdoor activities.11 For the time being, schools remained open but were advised not to travel abroad, and companies were encouraged to set flexible work time, which may reduce the possibility of be contracted in public transports. This was regarded as the reinforced phase 2, and social distance was the main measure advocated.12 Besides, Belgium had its first three death cases on 10 March, which possibly urged the relevant authorities to take stricter measures to control the situation. On 12 March, the National Security Council met at the request of the Prime Minister and in consultation with the Minister-Presidents and decided to “strengthen the existing measures with additional social distancing measures, with the same objective of stemming the spread of the epidemic”13. “From an operational point of view, we are moving into the federal phase of crisis management, which means that all decisions will be taken by a management cell composed of, among others, the Prime Minister, the competent ministers and the Ministers-Presidents.” 14 From Friday 13 March, schools, discos, cafes and restaurants closed, and all public gatherings for sporting, cultural or festive purposes were cancelled according to the government’s order made one day before.15 However, it’s not a lockdown because people were still allowed to go out of their houses. In the evening of 16 March, in view of the increasingly serious situation, the Belgium’s Head of State King Philippe, who normally addresses only on Christmas Eve and on the Eve of Belgian National Day, addressed the nation due to the exceptional health hazard of the coronavirus as he did in the aftermath of the 2016 terrorist attacks in Brussels and Zaventem.