First coronavirus death confirmed in Netherlands

An 86-year-old man died of the novel coronavirus on Friday, becoming the virus' first fatality in the Netherlands.

The man passed away in Ikazia Hospital in the port city of Rotterdam. After he was diagnosed with COVID-19, he was treated in isolation, according to the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, Xinhua reported.

Dutch Minister for Medical Care Bruno Bruins said on Thursday that the number of infections in the country increased from 38 to 82 in one day.

"Such a sharp rise fits in the picture," Bruins said in the parliament.

On February 27, a 56-year-old man from Loon op Zand in the southern province of North Brabant became the first person in the Netherlands to test positive for COVID-19. IANS