The Netherlands turns mostly dark red on the map of the European health institute ECDC. The provinces of Utrecht, North and South Holland, Gelderland, North Brabant and Overijssel go from red to dark red. Groningen retains the dark red colour. The other provinces remain red.

Based on the colour codes, European countries can adjust rules for tourists, among others. When the Netherlands was largely coloured red last week, other countries' travel restrictions were not too bad.

Just four weeks ago, the Netherlands coloured yellow and green again, but that changed when the number of positive coronal tests skyrocketed in a short time.

The European health organisation updates the map every week, looking at the number of positive tests. An area gets code red if there are 200 to 499 infections per 100,000 inhabitants over the past 14 days, or if more than 4 per cent of tests are positive and there are 75 to 499 infections per 100,000 inhabitants over the past 14 days.

The RIVM said Tuesday showed a “cautious stabilisation” in the number of corona infections; the number of infections rose by a third over the past week.

Other areas are also discolouring

Areas in Spain, for example, also turn from red to dark red: Valencia, Mallorca and Ibiza. Crete also goes from red to dark red. Parts of France and Sicily, Sardinia, Venice and Rome in Italy turn from green to orange.