NL in same position as when Covid hit in March, acute care doctor says

The second wave of the coronvarius crisis is just about here, according to Ernst Kuipers, director of Erasmus MC and head of the Netherlands' Acute Care Network. "Fasten your seat belts. We are in exactly the same situation as in March, or actually a step further," he said on talk show Jinek.

On Thursday public health institute RIVM recorded 2,544 new coronavirus infections, and 16 Covid-19 related deaths in the country. "I am very concerned," Kuipers said. "At the moment you can see the number of hospital admissions doubling per week."

"I said this week: if we see no effect at the end of the week, we have to take measures again. It is still going up further and that means that you already have to think about what you can do about stricter measures this weekend."

Earlier this week a number of experts told newspaper AD that regional measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus will not work now that more than half of the country is in a worrying situation in terms of infections. National measures are needed, they said.

Rotterdam mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb joined that call. "If you see that another eight "worrisome regions" are added, and that most of the big cities fall in these regions, then the question is: what is the regional approach still worth?" he said to Rijnmond.

According to Aboutaleb, this coronavirus crisis is just as much a behavioral crisis. Tougher measures will be needed if citizens can't be bothered to keep with the basic rules. He believes that a return to the "blunt general measures" that were in place before the summer is definitely possible.