THE HAGUE - The Dutch government is recruiting additional medical personnel for Curaçao, Aruba and Sint Maarten to stop the spread of the coronavirus. In the latter two countries, the number of infections has increased rapidly in recent times.

In a letter that Minister Hugo Jonge (VWS) sent to the Dutch Parliament today, he reports that 8 extra nurses and an infectious disease control doctor have already been sent to Sint Maarten this week. These have been hired through an international medical employment agency because the Netherlands itself is tight in its healthcare personnel. A crisis coordinator did, however, fly to Sint Maarten from the Netherlands to coordinate the source and contact investigation. On the island, the number of cases has doubled since July 16 from 79 to 160.

In his letter, the minister also refers to the "significant increase" in the number of infections in Aruba, which has contracted by almost 100 in a few days. While the Netherlands issued a negative travel advice for Sint Maarten last Sunday, this has not yet happened for Aruba. But the minister writes: "We are in weekly contact to consider the consequences for air traffic."

Anyone who travels to the Netherlands from Sint Maarten (and other risk areas) is urged to go into quarantine for 14 days. From the end of next week there will be a test street at Schiphol where travelers from a risk area can be tested regardless of whether they have complaints

De Jonge announces that new agreements will be made with an American medical employment agency to maintain the personnel IC capacity in the Caribbean countries for the autumn 2020 and spring 2021. The latest data from the Caribbean part of the Kingdom shows the following contamination picture over the past period: Aruba (171), Sint Maarten (160), Curaçao (31), Sint Eustatius (3), Saba (5) and Bonaire (5).