Coronavirus has flared up among the three members of the charity fundraising team ‘Serious Request’, in which three DJs are isolated in a glass house and raise money by carrying out interviews and playing requests in the run up to Christmas, under the full glare of the public.

Two of the three DJs have now tested positive for the virus and that means all interviews inside the house have been cancelled. Nevertheless, the team are pressing ahead with their fund raising as much as possible and say interviews will go ahead via the letterbox.

This year the team are raising money for the charity Het Vergeten Kind, or the forgotten child.

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the Netherlands remains stable, but hospital admissions rose slightly last week, according to the latest update from public health institute RIVM.

In total, 347 people were hospitalize with coronavirus in the week to Tuesday morning and 38 people were sent to an IC ward. The RIVM registered 5,900 positive tests but the actual number of tests will be far higher because self-tests are not included in the total.

The RIVM also monitors waste water in order to get a better idea about the spread. The concentration of virus particles in waste water did rise last week, but remains low, the RIVM said.

Some 43,000 people were given a booster vaccination last week, the first time the total has gone below 50,000 since the campaign started. Almost four million people have now had a booster, or 31% of those who are entitled to one. The over 60s are most likely to have done so, the RIVM said.