RIVM: monkeypox virus can spread further at prides | Inland

The most famous pride in the Netherlands, Pride Amsterdam, is held from July 30 to August 7. At the end of July there are also Pink Wednesday in Nijmegen, Pink Monday in Tilburg, Pride Amersfoort and the Milkshake Festival in Amsterdam.

The monkeypox virus has so far been detected in more than two hundred people in the Netherlands, and RIVM expects this to continue to rise for the time being. The youngest infected person is 23, the oldest 64. Almost two out of three infected people live in the Amsterdam region.

The vast majority of patients are men who have sex with men. The first infected people were visitors to a fetish festival in Belgium, but in recent weeks fewer and fewer positively tested people have been abroad. This means that the virus is spreading more and more within the Netherlands.

The chance that infected people will transfer the virus to their environment is fairly small. Everyone who contracted the virus came after “intense physical contact, including sexual contact.” That is why people from the wider area no longer have to quarantine for three weeks, as long as they do not have any complaints themselves. Health Minister Kuipers decided this last week on the advice of the Expert Council.

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