‘Possible new corona wave on the way due to British mutation, more measures needed’ | Inland

The LNAZ has calculated what the consequences of the British variant could be, so that the government and healthcare can prepare. The government assumes that 3 to 5 percent of all positively tested persons now have the British variant among the members. That mutation is more contagious than previous versions of the virus.

According to the calculations, the point can be reached in mid-March when more Dutch people have the British variant than another variant. More than 200,000 people would be infected at the same time and significantly more than 10,000 people would be tested positive each day. In the second half of March, more than 3000 people will be in hospitals. Now there are 2500. “Then you just get stuck with corona care, with regular care or both. If you look at the proportions, the current set of measures is not enough ”, says Kuipers, himself chairman of the board of the Erasmus MC hospital in Rotterdam.

Disaster scenario

Kuipers advocates a strict lockdown to prevent disaster scenarios as much as possible, and a curfew is desirable in this regard. Targeted isolation of people can also be a possibility. In the meantime, as many people as possible should be vaccinated as soon as possible. This should keep the number of infections low enough so that hospitals can last until spring and summer.

The Outbreak Management Team, which advises the cabinet on how to tackle the corona outbreak, will meet again in the Catshuis on Sunday. It is the first meeting since the fall of the cabinet on Friday. Kuipers is less concerned about the consequences of the political situation. “We must be able to act decisively. We are in a race of two things: on the one hand, the rate at which you can vaccinate, on the other hand, the spread of a variant that is much more contagious. It goes so fast, a week delay is a lot. I am convinced that the cabinet is well aware of this and that the House of Representatives understands this. ”

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