Five Dutch provinces expected to turn Dark Red on EU’s Covid map

For the first time since July, parts of the Netherlands are almost certainly going to shift to the highest warning level on the European coronavirus risk assessment map. Five provinces will go up from Red to Dark Red when the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) releases its new map on Thursday.

The five provinces are Gelderland, Limburg, Overijssel, Utrecht, and Zeeland. The rest of the country will remain red for the time being, although Zuid-Holland appears to be just slightly below the Dark Red threshold.

The high warning level is because the number of positive coronavirus tests is continuing its rapid rise. At the beginning of October, the Netherlands was completely orange, the second lowest level.

At a provincial level, Limburg is home to the greatest number of infections. During the previous two calendar weeks, the period the ECDC will assess, more than 7,800 people have tested positive. That equates to about 703 confirmed infections for every 100,000 Limburgers. This is the highest level for the province since April. Gelderland follows Limburg with 589 per capita infections. Next is Overijssel (566), then Zeeland (534), and Utrecht (512).

The number of infections is increasing fastest in Noord-Brabant, where 433 positive tests were registered for every 100,000 residents in the past two calendar weeks. That is an increase of more than 57 percent compared to the current report, which was released last Thursday.

Groningen is last of the 12 provinces of the Netherlands. There were 268 positive tests per 100,000 people in the past two weeks there, an increase of about 31 percent. The figure from Groningen illustrates how quickly the number of positive tests in the Netherlands is increasing.

At the beginning of October, Limburg was the only province above the milestone of 200 cases per 100,000 people in a two-week period.

The ECDC publishes the coronavirus map every Thursday. The service looks at the number of positive tests, and the percentage of all tests which were positive during the two previous calendar weeks. The European coronavirus map has four colors. From lowest to highest risk, the colors used are Green, Orange, Red, and Dark Red.

Countries often use the map to decide if they will tighten rules for travelers from other countries.