Positive coronavirus tests hit 1,300, mayors mull new regional measures

A further 1,300 positive coronavirus tests were registered with the public health institute in the past 24 hours, according to figures from the RIVM public health institute on Monday.

This means that an average of 1,142 people have tested positive for the virus for the past six days, the highest figure since mid April, at the height of the pandemic.

Most new infections – 199 – were in Amsterdam, followed by The Hague and Rotterdam. Amsterdam and Delft have the highest positive test ratio of all the bigger cities.

The Netherlands’ 25 regional safety boards met on Monday to discuss the impact of the increase in positive cases as winter nears, particularly when cafe terraces are closed and people move indoors.

And Amsterdam’s mayor Femke Halsema is to hold talks with city officials on Tuesday about new measures to stop the spread of the virus, RTL Nieuws said.

Earlier the mayor said that a curfew, and a campaign to actively discourage tourism were among the options if the virus continued to spread.

Although there has been a slight increase in the number of hospitalisations, there are still just 209 people in hospital, of whom 43 are in intensive care. At the height of the pandemic, more than 4,000 people were being treated in hospital.