Most Covid-19 test locations fully booked

Making an appointment to get tested for the coronavirus in the Netherlands is currently virtually impossible. Almost all of the over 100 GGD test locations are completely fully booked, GGD GHOR Nederland, the umbrella organization for the GGD health services, said to NOS.

On Thursday morning, only 4 of the 100 test locations still had sufficient space. 10 locations still had some open appointments, but not many. According to the GGD, this is the busiest that test locations have every been. On Wednesday already, the GGD call center for making a test was overloaded several times.

"We think that's because there are simply a lot of people with symptoms now who want to get themselves tested," a GGD spokesperson said to the broadcaster. The health service blames the lack of testing space on too little lab capacity.

King Willem-Alexander paid a visit to a GGD Hollands Midden testing location in Leiden on Thursday morning. There GGD employees explained to him how tests are done and he spoke to two source and contact tracers about the work they do when someone tests positive for Covid-19, according to Leidsch Dagblad.