The GGD Amsterdam will immediately stop testing without an appointment. You could go to various locations in the city without an appointment, but due to the much more contagious omikron variant and the rapidly increasing number of infections, the queues for the test streets also became much too long.
The crowds are so great that the GGD Amsterdam no longer considers it responsible to allow the queues to grow. The number of infections is skyrocketing and that means a run on the test streets.
In the Amsterdam region, 24,073 positive tests were taken last week, the highest number ever and an increase of 20 percent. Last week there were 18,832 cases.
Waiting times are up to an hour, says a spokesperson for the GGD.
“People who suspect they are positive are waiting in long lines for a test. You should not want that because of the risk of contamination. Not only is the long wait annoying for the people who come for a test on the spec, that also applies to the people who have made an appointment, because they also have to wait longer. People get angry and irritated because it takes so long. It is all understandable, but for our employees it is less fun to work.”
The GGD Amsterdam calls on everyone to continue to test well, but in Amsterdam this only happens by appointment. People can still go to the RAI for a booster without an appointment. It is quiet at the vaccination street.
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