An explosion struck a COVID-19 testing center in a small town in the Netherlands on Wednesday, shattering several windows officials said.
According to Agence France-Presse, it said the early morning blast in Bovenkarspel, some 40 miles north of the capital Amsterdam, was caused by a metal cylinder left outside the building, but no one was injured.
The incident comes weeks after another testing center was burned down during violent riots across the country against a coronavirus curfew.
“Police were called at 6:55 a.m. by a security guard from the corona test center to say that an explosion had taken place. He had heard a loud bang and then saw that several windows of the building had broken,” a police statement said.
Health Minister Hugo de Jonge condemned the attack, saying public health authorities were “terribly shocked.”
“For over a year now, we have relied heavily on the people on the front lines. And then this. Insane,” de Jonge said in a tweet.
The bomb squad was investigating whether any explosive material remained at the scene, public television network NOS reported.
The part of the Netherlands in which Bovenkarspel is located is in the midst of one of the country’s most serious outbreaks, with 81 infections per 100,000 inhabitants, compared to a national average of 27.2, officials said
The Netherlands has recorded more than one million coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic and over 15,000 deaths.
