RIVM infectious diseases chief Aura Timen says situation in the Netherlands is not "an exceptional situation or exceptional risk at this point" after the institute found two additional cases of the Omicron variant which have been sampled on the 19th and 23rd of November. She goes on to say "the issue is that at the moment when a new variant emerges and is announced, probably the spread, or the variant is already spread all over the world. I mean, the way the way these variants of the coronavirus spread, there is no way you can stop a variant from spreading globally." IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES