Children up to the age of thirteen no longer need to be tested for the corona virus in case of mild complaints. Minister Hugo de Jonge (Public Health) announced this during a press conference on Friday evening. Children who, for example, have a cold, have a starting sore throat or have a snot nose, are allowed to go back to school and daycare.
“Children up to the age of twelve hardly contribute to the virus,” said De Jonge. “The risk of spreading among children is small.” The amended policy is intended to ensure that children do not miss too many school days and that it becomes less busy in the test streets.
A test for children with mild complaints is not prohibited: they can still have themselves tested, but it is not necessary. Such rules have already applied to children up to the age of seven for some time.
Rutte: coronavirus is making a comeback
“The corona virus is making a comeback,” said Rutte. “And this is happening so quickly that the Outbreak Management Team urgently advised to intervene.”
In the six regions with the most new corona infections (Amsterdam-Amstelland, Rotterdam-Rijnmond, Haaglanden, Utrecht, Kennemerland and Hollands-Midden), catering establishments are no longer allowed to allow new guests in at midnight. One hour later, all visitors must have left the establishment.
In addition, Rutte announced that the maximum number of people that can meet both inside and outside will be adjusted to fifty. This applies both indoors and outdoors for parties, drinks and outings. Previously that number was a hundred. There are exceptions for weddings and funerals, among others.
Number of positive tests rises sharply
The number of positive corona tests has been rising sharply for a few days. On Tuesday, 1,379 new positive tests were recorded, Wednesday 1,542, Thursday more than 1,700 and Friday almost 2,000 positive tests.
Although more tests are being conducted than before, that is not the only cause of the increasing number of reported infections. The percentage of positive tests is also increasing. Last week, 3.9 percent of all tests conducted showed corona, compared to 2.8 percent the week before.
Test capacity at risk
Due to the large number of tests, the test capacity is endangered. The laboratories that have to examine the material collected by the GGD cannot help everyone in the short term.
Correction: An earlier version of this post stated that the change applied to children up to the age of 12. This is incorrect: it concerns children up to the age of thirteen (in other words: twelve-year-olds do not have to be tested yet).
– .
