Additional measures will be announced on Friday for regions where the number of corona infections is rising rapidly.
On that day there will also be a press conference between Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Minister Hugo de Jonge of Public Health.
Next Tuesday, De Jonge would launch a regional “corona alarm system”, but because the number of infections is rising so quickly – today the day record was broken again with 1542 infections – he is bringing that up.
Randstad
The warning system works like a three-step escalation ladder: vigilant, worrying and serious. Sources around the cabinet take into account that several regions will already receive an “orange” status on Friday. Then extra measures are also needed.
At the moment, infections are particularly high in the Randstad: with Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague at the forefront. Amsterdam-Amstelland is seen as a source of corona fire, now that the number of infections is highest there with 24.3 patients per 100,000 inhabitants. In Rotterdam-Rijnmond that number is 20.4.
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Code red
In Amsterdam, all kinds of measures are already being prepared by the municipality: a new mouth cap requirement is also not excluded. Mayor Femke Halsema, however, indicated that the number of hospital and IC admissions also plays a role: for the time being, this is stable between 2 and 4 patients per day in Amsterdam.
The sharp increase in the Randstad is also seen elsewhere: Belgium decided on Wednesday afternoon to introduce code red for the provinces of North and South Holland. This means that Belgians who stay in these provinces for more than two days must be quarantined and tested for the virus upon return.
