Now the highly infectious Omicron variant of coronavirus is dominant in the Netherlands, there are mounting concerns about the impact on a number of key sectors, as absenteeism rates begin to creep up.

One in three of the 17,000 workers at Amsterdam’s UMC teaching hospital who take a coronavirus test are now positive, director Mark Kramer told television talk show Op1 on Tuesday evening.

‘A week ago, one in 20 who got tested, from cleaning staff to doctors, were positive,’ Kramer said. Government experts are expecting hospital admissions to peak again in mid January, further putting pressure on staffing levels.

Nurses’ association V&VN also says sickness rates are increasing – from around 5% to around 10% – and there could be a reduction in community nursing capacity as a result, the Financieele Dagblad reported.

Airline KLM was forced to scrap eight return flights on Tuesday because of staff shortages, the paper points out. Postal deliveries are also being hit.

However, the meat processing industry and supermarkets told the paper they have not had any serious problems to deal with so far.

Positive tests

The number of positive coronavirus tests rose 35% over the past week, and now averages 16,000 a day. That means 16,000 people taking at least a week off work, even without symptoms, while the rest of their households have to quarantine for at least five days.

People in their 20s currently account for the biggest share of the new infections, but the rise is reflected across all age groups.

According to Trouw, The Hague’s public transport company HTM has also been forced to scrap some services because of a shortage of drivers due to the quarantine regulations, rather than Omicron itself.

With schools reopening on Monday, it is also a question of wait and see, the paper said. ‘So far we have not had any signs that there will be problems,’ a spokesman for the primary schools council PO Raad said. ‘But we do still have the staff shortages from long before the lockdown.’