The Netherlands must "seriously take into account" that the extra contagious B117 variant of the coronavirus from the United Kingdom will also spread quickly here, Marion Koopmans, professor of virology at Erasmus MC in Rotterdam, said to NRC.
On Wednesday, public health institute RIVM reported that at least 50 people in the Netherlands have tested positive for this variant of the coronavirus. In addition, a random sample of 10 thousand positive Covid-19 tests showed that the British variant is already present in many places in the Netherlands, with between 1 and 5 percent of positive tests involving this variant. "It popped up in various places in the country," Koopmans said. "So far usually at a very low level, but that can expand quickly."
Koopmans and GGD Rotterdam-Rijnmond investigated the largest outbreak with the B117 variant in the Netherlands so far, at the Willibrord School in Bergschenhoek late last month. Over 750 pupils, teachers and housemates around this primary school were tested for Covid-19 and at least 30 people turned out to have the B117 variant of the virus.
Read more at NL Times, here
