The Hague, Mar 19 (IANS): Dutch Minister for Medical Care Bruno Bruins collapsed in Parliament during a debate on the coronavirus pandemic.

During the debate on Wednesday, Bruins received critical questions from the opposition parties, of which some found that he had done too little to provide medical workers protective equipment for the pandemic, such as masks, reports Xinhua news agency.

But he staggered slightly, following which the Minister collapsed.

Bruins managed to get up quickly, drank a sip of water and left the building. The debate was adjourned for around 45 minutes.

"Thanks for all your support for just now," Bruins said in a tweet.

"I fainted from exhaustion after intensive weeks. Now things are going better again. I'm going home now to rest tonight so I can get back to work tomorrow to fight the corona crisis as best I can."

Since Tuesday, 346 people have tested positive for COVID-19 in the Netherlands, the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) stated on Wednesday.

This brings the total number of people who tested positive to 2,051.

Fifteen patients in the Netherlands have died from the novel coronavirus since the last update, which raised the total number of deaths in the country to 58.