AMSTERDAM, March 7 — Authorities have made it clear that the rising number of patients tested positive for Covid-19 and the first death reported from the outbreak in the Netherlands, will not stop them from putting four people on trial on Monday over the downing of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 in 2014.

Flight MH17 was shot down over eastern Ukraine on July, 17, 2014, killing all 298 passengers and crew. Four suspects, three Russians and a Ukrainian, are set to go on trial in absentia.

Press Secretary for the judges Yolande Wijnnobel told members of the Malaysian media during a briefing that authorities in Netherlands have been monitoring the global outbreak and are satisfied with all the precautionary efforts taken so far.

Wijnnobel stressed that nothing will hinder the country’s most awaited trial, she stressed that families can still hope for justice even if the suspects will not be in the dock come Monday.

"We are keeping a close eye on that (Covid-19), we have a special institution here in the Netherlands called the Dutch National Institute for Public Health (RIVM), which is following the developments on the outbreak closely and making recommendations.

"We are also installing dispenser and sanitisers all around the courthouse and have put up advisories to not shake hands and cough to your elbows instead.

"If there are any developments, we will put it on our website. But right now it is business as usual and we will proceed with the trial as planned,” she told the Malaysian media here at the briefing held at a temporary press centre that has been set up in anticipation of Monday’s trial.

Flight MH17 traveling from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was torn apart by a Russian-made missile over part of eastern Ukraine held by pro-Moscow rebels, spreading bodies and debris over a wide area.

The number of patients in the Netherlands who tested positive for the coronavirus jumped from 38 confirmed cases on Wednesday to 82 on Thursday. About 3,000 people have been tested so far for the virus.

Yesterday, an 86-year-old man admitted to the Ikazia Hospital in Rotterdam, died.

RIVM said he is the first patient in the Netherlands to die as a result of the coronavirus outbreak.

In Europe generally, the situation is worsening with Italy being the worst affected country so far with more than 4,636 cases, a rise of 778 in a day, and a death toll of 197.

Around the world, there are more than 98,000 cases and more than 3,300 deaths. A global database maintained by Johns Hopkins counts more than 53,600 recoveries from the virus.