Two more people in the Netherlands have tested positive for the new, fast-spreading variant of coronavirus. Both cases were found in Amsterdam. One person had recently been to the United Kingdom, the other had not.
This is following Sunday’s news that the new variant of coronavirus was found in one person in the Netherlands. The Minister for Health, Hugo De Jonge, has told the NOS that an investigation will be launched into how the two people may have contracted the mutated strain.
Not like the United Kingdom
De Jonge believes that while the discovery of the new strain is worrying, the Netherlands will not have as serious an issue as the UK, the NOS reports. “We don’t think it will be very widespread, not comparable to the English situation.”
He believes that the current restrictions will help to prevent the continued spread of the mutated strain of coronavirus.
Entry ban
On Sunday, it was announced that the Netherlands would impose an entry ban on travellers from the United Kingdom. This meant that anyone looking to come to the Netherlands from the UK would not be allowed to enter the country, resident or not.
A similar measure was brought in for South African flight passengers on Monday. However, the government has now announced that EU citizens who are travelling from both the UK and South Africa and who can show a recent negative coronavirus test result, will now be allowed to enter the Netherlands.
No need for extra measures
De Jonge tells the NOS that he does not believe stricter measures are necessary for the Netherlands. Instead, he says that people need to continue to stick by the current measures.
“It’s not that easy to come up with something on top of that, the current set should be enough if we just stick to the rules very well.”
Jump in numbers
The new variant of coronavirus is not the Netherlands’ only problem. Coronavirus numbers have seen a significant jump this past week with 82,340 people testing positive for the virus. The previous week, that number stood at 58,412.
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