News | RIVM

Slight decrease in COVID-19 hospital admissions, rising concerns due to Omicron variant

There were 1,878 new hospital admissions of patients with COVID-19 last week, 10% less than the week before. 332 new patients with COVID-19 were admitted to ICU, a minor decrease compared to the previous week (-4%).

Significant increase in support for and compliance with coronavirus measures

Compliance with coronavirus measures such as working from home, distancing and testing if you have symptoms increased during the recent period of high infection rates and hospital admissions.

Concerns about mental health and substance use among students justified

More than half of students (51%) suffer from mental health issues such as loneliness, pressure to achieve, stress and sleeping problems.

Collegezaal universiteit vol met studenten tijdens college

COVID-19 figures decreasing, but still high

There were 1,998 new hospital admissions of patients with COVID-19 last week, 7% less than the week before. 343 new patients with COVID-19 were admitted to ICU, a 9% decrease.

Omicron variant confirmed in another 18 people in the Netherlands

RIVM is monitoring the spread of the Omicron variant in various ways. For that purpose, the test samples taken from people who tested positive for COVID-19 are subjected to further analysis.

Wider availability of self-tests leads to higher willingness to test

As of Friday 3 December, the recommendation in the Netherlands is to use a self-test in case of mild symptoms, as an alternative to a test by the Municipal Public Health Services (GGDs).

Beeld: ANP

Healthcare utilisation increases with Long COVID symptoms

More than 15,000 people are taking part in the LongCOVID study conducted by RIVM. Participants with existing long-term symptoms after COVID-19 (Long COVID) reported higher healthcare utilisation.

Stabilisation in newly reported SARS-CoV-2 infections

The number of newly reported infections with the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 stabilised in the past week*. The number of COVID-19 patients admitted to hospital stabilised, but ICU admissions continued to increase.

Omicron variant found in two previous test samples

RIVM has found the Omicron variant in test samples taken in the Netherlands earlier in November. These samples were taken in the GGD test lanes on 19 and 23 November 2021.

Coronavirus variant Omicron found in 13 positive tests so far

On 26 November 2021, 624 passengers returning from South Africa were tested for the coronavirus; 61 of them tested positive for COVID-19. Initial results from genome sequencing showed the Omicron variant in 13 of the samples from the positive tests.