A new variant of coronavirus known as FLiRT has taken hold in the Netherlands this summer and people can still become extremely ill, experts say.

One in 80 people taking part in the public health institute RIVM’s infection monitor, tested positive for coronavirus in the past week. In the week of April 15, for example, no positive tests were reported at all.

Waste water analysis, the most important monitor of how the virus is spreading, shows the number of coronavirus particles is now 14 times higher than at this time last year. It is now even higher than in July 2021 when the government relaxed the strict coronavirus measures, leading to a surge in autumn infections.

The current wave, says professor Marion Koopmans, is causing far fewer people to become seriously ill and hospital admissions are barely rising, despite the surge in infections.

Most people, she told the AD, are well protected against the virus because they have either had it earlier or have been vaccinated.

Nevertheless, Koopmans and the RIVM stress that coronavirus can lead to long-term health problems such as Long Covid. “The chance is lower, but it is still there,” Koopmans said. “We are still getting new cases.”

The basic rules introduced during the main pandemic – sneezing into your elbow, working from home and wearing masks – should become part of our everyday behaviour, she said. “As with flu, people who are in poor health can become extremely ill,” she said. “Simple measures can help protect them.”

The summer surge shows that coronavirus is not seasonal, Alma Tostmann from Radboud University hospital told the Volkskrant. We are currently in a phase in which “new variants lead to a rise in infections, even if it is summer,” she said.

Research institute Nivel said last week that the number of coronavirus patients reporting to their family doctor remains low but that there is an upward trend and that the over-65s are most likely to be affected.

The government will launch a new vaccination round for the over-60s and younger people with certain health conditions in mid-September. The first invitations will begin to arrive at the end of August.

FLiRT takes its name loosely from its scientific moniker.