25 coronavirus infections linked to hospitals in Nieuwegein, Groningen

Five nurses in the vascular surgery department of the Sint Antonius Hospital in Nieuwegein, Utrecht, have tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 novel coronavirus, according to RTV Utrecht. In the north of the country, 20 employees and medical students at University Medical Center-Groningen tested positive for the virus over the past week.

In Nieuwegein, the hospital implemented a patient admission stop as a precaution for the vascular surgery department, and all staff and current patients are being tested for the viral infection. A spokesperson for the hospital said that to her knowledge none of the nurses showed up for work once they became symptomatic.

The five infected nurses were all self-isolating at home on Saturday, and the spokesperson said source and contact investigations were being handled. Testing of the other people present in the department started on Friday.

The hospital has also taken extra hygiene measures, and said it would make more staff and visitors wear surgical face masks before entering the hospital.

At the UMCG in Groningen, 37 employees and students have been diagnosed with the infection since the beginning of August, including 20 last week. It was not immediately clear how many of the new infections were clustered together, or were independent of each other.

A spokesperson told RTV Noord that part of the difficulty in running the contact investigation was that some of those infected are interns who interact with both staff and students.