LOC02:36
23:36 GMT
BRUSSELS, Sept 18 (KUNA) -- Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte Friday said that the crucial R ratio, which shows how many people each coronavirus patient infects, is now at 1.4 in the Netherlands.
"If the number of infections continue to increase at this pace, in three weeks, there will be 10,000 infections a day," Rutte told a news conference at the Hague this evening.
Noting that number of infections in the past 24 hours in the country was nearly 2,000, Rutte said that keeping to the basic rules for preventing the spread of the virus is becoming more difficult.
"Places of work are becoming busier, people want to meet each other and have fun," he said.
"But over 10 percent of infections are via work. And there is a reason why we are telling people to work at home as much as possible," he stressed.
Speaking at the same press conference, Dutch Health Minister Hugo de Jonge described the current situation as "extremely worrying."
In particular, the number of clusters associated with cafes and bars is increasing, De Jonge said. For this reason, they will have to close their doors at midnight and turn off the lights, so that everyone has left by 1 a.m., he added. (end)
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