The first drop-in coronavirus testing centres to use fast tests will open at 25 regional  locations nationwide at the end of November, health minister Hugo de Jonge told MPs in a briefing.

In addition, the fast tests will be offered at seven other locations which also offer different sorts of coronavirus tests from November. ‘Intensive talks’ on setting up these centres are currently underway with officials from the four big Dutch cities plus Eindhoven and Groningen, De Jonge said.

The first fast coronavirus tests were approved for use earlier in October. The tests, which have similar accuracy rates to the current tests, give a result in less than an hour.

Local health boards have also been asked to look into the option of setting up local and mobile test centres, De Jonge said.

Currently, nearly 63,000 people a day undergo a coronavirus test, and by the end of November this should have risen to 90,000, without taking the fast tests into account, De Jonge said.

By early next year, the minister says testing capacity should have risen to between 100,000 and 130,000.