27% more new COVID-19 infections were reported last week than in the week before that. In the week of 2-8 December, 43,103 new people who tested positive for COVID-19 were reported by the Municipal Public Health Services (GGDs). This is an increase of more than 9,000 newly reported infections compared to the week before, when 33,949 new infections were reported. Every security region has seen an increase in the number of positive test results per 100,000 inhabitants. More people have been tested. The percentage of people who tested positive for COVID-19 has risen to 11.6%. That percentage was 11.1% in the week before. The reproduction number is still approximately 1.
Hospital admissions and ICU admissions
The number of people admitted to the nursing wards of hospitals with COVID-19 was 1,229 (compared to 1,007 admissions in the previous week). There were 179 admissions to intensive care in the past week, compared to 183 the week before.
More people tested
From 30 November to 6 December, 339,054** tests were administered in the test lanes of the Municipal Public Health Services (GGDs). That is 66,780 more tests than the week before when the GGDs tested 272,274 people for COVID-19. The results of 320,205 tests are known. 37,267 (11.6%) of those people tested positive for COVID-19. The percentage of positive tests increased during the week, both in people with symptoms and people without symptoms.
Starting from 1 December, household members and people who were identified as other close contacts in GGD source and contact tracing will be able to get tested using a PCR test after five days of quarantine without symptoms. If the test result is negative for COVID-19, they can be released from quarantine. This also applies to people who have received a notification from the CoronaMelder app. From 1 to 7 December, 18,700 people without symptoms were tested. That is 6.7% of the total number of tests that were administered. 1,923 of these tests (10.3%) were positive for COVID-19. The capacity in the test lanes is more than sufficient to cope with this extra flow of people getting tested. The time between making an appointment and receiving the test result of a test in the GGD test lanes is less than a day and a half on average. In most cases, someone who telephones via 0800-1202 or makes an appointment online will receive the results of the COVID-19 test within 34 hours.
Figure 1. The number of tests administered and the percentage of positive tests in people with no symptoms who are household members or close contacts of someone with COVID-19 or who have received a notification via the CoronaMelder app, and in people with symptoms.
1 Since 1 December, people without symptoms can get tested after 5 days of quarantine, if they are household members of someone with COVID-19 or have been identified by source and contact tracing or the CoronaMelder app as other close contact of someone with COVID-19.
Age distribution
In all age categories, the number of newly reported COVID-19 infections per 100,000 inhabitants has increased compared to the week before. The largest increase in the number of newly reported COVID-19 infections was in the age groups of 13-17 years and 18-24 years.
Figure 2. Number of newly reported infections per age category per week.
Nursing homes and residential care centres
The number of nursing home locations and residential care centres with at least 1 confirmed COVID-19 infection has also increased in the past week, rising from 77 in the week of 25 November to 1 December to 100 new nursing home locations in the week of 2 to 8 December. A nursing home or residential care centre is counted as a ‘new location’ if no new patients have been reported at least 28 days prior to the positive test result.
Figure 3. Number of new nursing home and residential care centre locations with at least one laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 infection as of 31 August 2020.
Reproduction number and number of contagious people
The reproduction number* for 20 November is 1 (lower limit 0.97 – upper limit 1.03). The number of contagious people on that date was 87,000 (lower limit 61,895 – upper limit 114,478).
Follow the basic measures
It continues to be important to always get tested if you have symptoms that could indicate COVID-19 – even if you think it might just be a common cold. To prevent the virus from continuing to spread, it is important for everyone to comply with the measures and the basic rules. Stay at least 1.5 metres from others. Work from home as much as possible. Avoid crowds. If you have symptoms, stay home and get tested. Wash your hands frequently, especially when you arrive somewhere from outside.
Open data
RIVM publishes open data every day that is accessible to everyone.
* The estimates for R from longer than 14 days ago are reliable. An estimated R based on data from less than 14 days ago involves more uncertainties. That is why we always look at the R from 14 days ago.
** These figures are higher than the number of administered tests published by GGD GHOR on Monday morning, because the records were updated and are more complete on Tuesday morning.
| Last week1 | Two weeks ago2 | |
|---|---|---|
| COVID-19 reports by Municipal Public Health Services (GGDs) | ||
| Newly reported COVID-19 infections | 43,103 | 33,949 |
| Number of hospital admissions to nursing wards (Source: NICE) | 1229 | 1007 |
| Number of hospital admissions to Intensive Care (Source: NICE) | 179 | 183 |
| Deaths | 338 | 406 |
| GGD test lanes per calendar week3 | week 49 | week 48 |
| Total number of tests of which results are known | 320,205 | 259,377 |
| Number of people who tested positive | 38,267 | 28,789 |
| Percentage of positive tests | 11,6% | 11,1% |
Not all of the reported hospital admissions or deaths occurred within the last 24 hours
¹GGD reports to RIVM between 1 December 10:01 and 8 december 10:00 as published 8 December 2020 in the weekly epidemiological update on COVID-19 in the Netherlands.
²GGD reports to RIVM between 24 November 10:01 and 1 December 10:00, as published 1 December 2020 in the weekly epidemiological update on COVID-19 in the Netherlands.
³As published on 8 December 2020 in the weekly epidemiological update on COVID-19 in the Netherlands. The figures from the GGD test lanes were reported during the past week and current week, and may be updated to include any test results provided later.