Covid warning for 4 Dutch provinces lowered to orange on EU map

Four Dutch provinces turned orange on the European coronavirus map, because the number of positive tests fell enough. Groningen, Friesland, Drenthe and Zeeland were still red last week, but took a step down on Thursday. The rest of the country remained in the red.

The coronavirus map is made very Thursday by the ECDC, the European equivalent of the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM). The organization looks at the number of positive tests in the past two calendar weeks and the percentage of positive tests. The map has four colors: green, orange, red and dark red.

In the past month, all provinces were always red or dark red, the two highest levels. The last time a province was orange was in mid-July.

Just across the border in Germany, the number of positive tests is increasing. North Rhine-Westphalia went from green to orange. The state borders Limburg, Gelderland and Overijssel. Berlin, Saarland and Schelswig-Holstein also went from green to orange. Belgium and Luxembourg remained orange. 

Not much changed in the holiday destinations in the south of Europe. Spain remained almost completely dark red, as did the Mediterranean coast and Corsica in France. The Greek island of Crete also remained dark red. Portugal was still red, as were the regions of Paris, Normandy, Sardinia and Tuscany. 

In France, Burgundy, Brittany and the far north (Calais and Lille) went from orange to red. The same for Calabria, the tip of Italy's boot.