The Dutch province of Limburg continues to have more positive coronavirus tests per head of the population than virtually any other part of Europe, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.

In the past two calendar weeks, two in 75 people in the province have had coronavirus, the ECDC said, which is a slight rise on the previous two weeks. With parts of Austria now reducing their infection rate, Limburg has climbed from 12^th to sixth place in the ECDC ranking.

In Europe as a whole, 132 regions are now ‘dark red’, compared with 119 last week. Only parts of Italy, Spain and Romania have a lower risk of catching coronavirus.

Meanwhile, the health authorities in Amsterdam have now identified the Omicron variant in two people with no links to southern Africa, suggesting the new version is now spreading in the general population, the Parool reported.

The two cases were identified in 200 samples taken from the city’s test centres for extra checks on Monday. Five cases were also identified on Tuesday and four on Wednesday, but contact tracing has not yet established if there is a South African link to them.