Some 50 new cases of measles have been reported over the past week, and the infection is now circulating in five schools, according to new figures from public health institute RIVM.

In total, 158 cases have now been registered, a rise of 46% on a week ago. There were 203 reports of measles in 2024 as a whole.

The agency has called on parents to be alert to the risk of measles and to keep their children at home if they develop spots.

The RIVM said 24 patients had contracted measles while on holiday in Morocco, where there is currently a major epidemic. Three people were infected in Romania, one in Belgium, and one in Vietnam.

There is, as yet, no nationwide epidemic, the RIVM said. There is a major outbreak of measles in the Netherlands every 10 to 15 years. The last was in 2013, when the RIVM registered 2,688 cases.

Most of those who have been diagnosed with measles are under the age of 10 and attended schools with a low uptake of the vaccine. These are either Islamic schools, or anthroposophical schools where vaccines are frowned on, the RIVM said.