Covid-19 diagnosis closes Nike head office in Hilversum

The European headquarters of Nike in Hilversum will be closed on Monday and Tuesday for a thorough cleaning. One of the employees working at the head office was diagnosed with coronavirus Covid-19, the sports brand wrote in an email to all employees, ANP reports.

The infected employee is the brother of the first Covid-19 patient in the Netherlands, a man from Loon op Zand diagnosed on Thursday, according to RTL Nieuws. The man's wife and their daughter also tested positive for the virus on Saturday. The infected employee must stay home for two weeks. The other Nike employees will be informed on Tuesday when the office will open again.

So far public health institute RIVM confirmed ten Covid-19 diagnoses in the Netherlands. Among them are a 23-year-old woman from Delft, an Amsterdam woman and her husband, and their toddler-aged son. These patients, and the man from Loon op Zand all visited the Lombardy region of Italy shortly before being diagnosed with the coronavirus.

For three other patients diagnosed on Sunday - from Dalen in Drenthe, Nieuwendijk in Noord-Brabant, and the Tilburg region also in Noord-Brabant - where they contracted the virus is not yet known, the RIVM said. Two of these patients celebrated carnival in Tilburg, according to RTL.

Whether the Nike employee is one of the coronavirus cases announced on Sunday, or a new diagnosis, is not clear.