The number of people who tested positive for COVID-19, hospital admissions and ICU admissions is continuing to decrease. The downward trend is clearly positive. Following the basic measures and getting vaccinated remain important if we want this trend to continue.
All the weekly COVID-19 figures are presented in a table on the RIVM website.
14,397 people received a positive test result last week*, a 30% decrease compared to the week before that. This corresponds to 84 people who tested positive per 100,000 inhabitants. The number of people who were tested for SARS-CoV-2 in the test lanes operated by the Municipal Public Health Services (GGDs) decreased last week. In addition, the percentage of positive tests continued to decrease, dropping from 9.0% a week earlier to 7.2% in the past week.
Children
The number of newly reported COVID-19 infections decreased in all age groups (see also Figure 1). The lowest relative decrease was seen in children (aged 0-17 years). Testing was more frequent last week than in the week before that among children aged 0 to 12 years (+14%) and 13 to 17 years (+6%). This may possibly be due to the full reopening of secondary schools.
Figure 1. Number of reported positive tests per 100,000 inhabitants, by age group, per calendar week (26 April to 6 June 2021)
Hospital admissions
The number of people with COVID-19 who were admitted to hospital decreased by 32% last week, dropping to 380 hospital admissions. The number of new patients admitted to ICU also decreased by 57%, down to 50 ICU admissions in that week.
Reproduction number and contagious people
The reproduction number rose to 0.90 (lower limit 0.86 – upper limit 0.93), but is still completely below 1. That means that 100 people who have COVID-19 right now will collectively infect another 90 new people. The number of contagious people has continued to decrease, down to 60,944. The number of contagious people and the reproduction numbers based on infections and hospital and ICU admissions are presented in the table of weekly COVID-19 figures.
Follow the measures, even after a negative test result (or self-test) or after vaccination.
Even after vaccination, there is still a slight chance that you could become ill. Nearly 11 million vaccinations have been given by now, but only 1 in 5 people in the Netherlands are fully vaccinated. This means that many people are still not yet fully protected, and could still get the virus.
Keep following the measures. That is the best way to prevent yourself and others from becoming infected. Stay at least 1.5 metres from others. If you have symptoms, stay home and get tested – even after vaccination. Wash your hands regularly. Did you test positive for COVID-19 on the self-test? Stay home, isolate yourself from others, have your household members start quarantining, and contact the GGD. This is the only way we can keep reducing the spread of the virus.