THE HAGUE - The Netherlands will make COVID rapid tests available to the Caribbean parts of the Kingdom. The Dutch government has asked for advice from the Outbreak Management Team Caribbean.

“As soon as the advice is available, it will be discussed with Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten. Your Chamber will be informed about the content of the advice and the outcome of this Four-Country consultation on this point in a subsequent state of affairs letter,” said Minister Hugo de Jonge in a letter to the Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament. In it, he also discusses the current situation in the Caribbean.

The situation in Aruba has been characterized in recent weeks by a sharp drop in the number of infections. The number of patients in the hospital in Aruba is back to a manageable level. On Curaçao, the number of positive cases has risen sharply in recent days. Unfortunately, the CMC hospital has also been hit by an outbreak that has infected some of the CMC staff. As a result, part of the regular care has been scaled down. Curaçao has announced a series of measures to turn the tide.

The number of active cases in Sint Maarten has been increasing again since November 4. The number of patients in the hospital of Sint Maarten is also increasing. From Sunday, November 8, the Caribbean Netherlands was free of active infections for a while. Unfortunately, a number of new cases have been reported on Bonaire in the past two weeks.”

De Jonge furthermore reports that "an assessment framework has been made for the travel advice for the Caribbean part of the Kingdom that does more justice to the local circumstances and the insular character of the area." He also announces that "everything is in place to be able to start vaccination as soon as the vaccines become available, also in the Caribbean parts of the Kingdom."