Labor party calls for urgent Covid measures as infections soar

The PvdA believes that the OMT should gather sooner to advise on the increasing number of coronavirus infections. In recent weeks, the number of cases rose rapidly, and more and more coronavirus patients have been hospitalized.

According to PvdA parliamentarian Attje Kuiken, the number of infections and hospitalizations is rising "quickly." She called it "irresponsible" for the caretaker Cabinet to continue to wait.

The Outbreak Management Team (OMT) is the government's leading advisor in the fight against the coronavirus. The OMT will meet on Friday for new advice to the Cabinet. A week later, Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Health Minister Hugo de Jonge will hold a coronavirus press conference.

Kuiken thinks that waiting another two weeks before the Cabinet takes new steps is too long with the rising figures. The Cabinet needs to show urgency, she believes. Hospital administrators already called on the Cabinet to take measures in the newspaper Trouw on Saturday.

"The government must make people aware that the coronavirus is not over yet and insist on measures such as keeping one and a half meters apart and working from home. The urgency of the message has been completely lost. If you wait now, you will come to a point where you need more severe measures," Chantal Bleeker-Rovers of Radboudumc said to the newspaper at the time.

The Cabinet remains vigilant but sees no reason to accelerate the matter, according to insiders. The increase in the number of infections was expected and calculated when the coronavirus measures were relaxed at the end of September.