The Netherlands' parliamentary inquiry into the country's COVID-19 response has wrapped up its first full week of public hearings, focused on the chaotic early months of the pandemic in 2020. Key witnesses — including Jaap van Dissel, chair of the Outbreak Management Team (OMT, the expert panel that advised the Dutch cabinet), and senior health ministry officials — defended the decisions taken at the time, arguing that deep uncertainty made swift, clear-cut action difficult, while stopping short of offering apologies. Testimony revealed that harrowing images of coffins in Italian streets shaped the initial response, that nursing-home visiting bans were imposed without a formal OMT recommendation, and that civil servants were left exhausted by the dual burden of managing the crisis and answering relentless parliamentary demands — setting the stage for next week's hearings, when former Prime Minister Mark Rutte and other cabinet members are expected to face questioning.