In four regions, the number of corona infections has risen so fast that the situation is no longer ‘worrisome’, but has become ‘serious’. That is the highest risk level. This will apply from Saturday in the safety regions of Utrecht, Hollands Midden, Zaanstreek-Waterland and South Holland South.
On September 28, the security regions of Amsterdam-Amstelland, Rotterdam-Rijnmond and Haaglanden were already given the ‘serious’ status.
The situation in a region is considered serious when more than 150 out of 100,000 inhabitants have been tested positive in a week, or if more than 10 percent of the tests performed are positive.
“Vigorous action is necessary to prevent further escalation and return to a manageable situation,” the government explains. coronadashboard.
In the rest of the country, the situation is ‘worrying’. This already applied to most security regions, but the risk level for IJsselland, North Limburg, South Limburg and Zeeland was increased on Saturday. There, the status previously applied ‘vigilant’, the lowest risk level.
All regions exceeded signal value last week
Months ago, the government determined that alarm bells go off when a region has 7 positive tests per 100,000 inhabitants in 24 hours. This is called the signal value.
The last time a region stayed below that limit was last Saturday. Since then, every region has been above that limit every day. Amsterdam-Amstelland set a record on Saturday with 68.7 infections per 100,000 people. That equates to almost ten times the signal value. On Friday, Haaglanden had 65.4 positive tests per 100,000 people and Rotterdam-Rijnmond 62.5.
The Netherlands as a whole had a record number of 6504 positive tests between Friday morning and Saturday morning, which equates to 37.4 infections per 100,000 people. In recent days, 209.2 out of 100,000 Dutch people have been tested positive. On September 13, the Netherlands remained below the signal value for the last time.
De Jonge will provide a definite answer on new measures on Tuesday
Minister Hugo de Jonge (Public Health) has Saturday indicated Tuesday to come to the conclusion whether new corona measures will be taken. According to the minister, new additional measures are inevitable if the number of positive tests continues to rise.
“The development of the figures is very worrying. It is clearly not going in the right direction. This is a trend that you do not want to see,” said De Jonge during the presentation of the CoronaMelder app. “We are keeping a close eye on the figures and are preparing for further measures.
It is not yet known whether there will be a press conference on Tuesday in which these possible new measures will be explained.
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