News | RIVM

Rise in new COVID-19 variants overshadows more positive developments

A moderately positive overview in the number of newly reported people who tested positive for COVID-19 can be observed in the Netherlands in the week of 13 to 19 January, as an effect of the lockdown that started on 15 December.

Tentative decrease becomes visible

For the second week in a row, the number of newly reported COVID-19 infections decreased somewhat. The percentage of people who tested positive for COVID-19 decreased slightly, dropping from 13.7% to 12.8%.

Tijdelijk bord van de gemeente Den Haag, bevestigd aan een paal bij een sportveld, dat wijst op de maatregelen die zijn genomen in het kader van de aanpak van het coronavirus.

South African coronavirus variant found in the Netherlands

The South African variant of the coronavirus (501Y.V2) has been identified in the Netherlands for the first time.

Update on the spread of the UK coronavirus variant (VOC 202012/01) in the Netherlands

The number of people that have been found to have the new SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus variant designated VOC 202012/01 (the UK variant) has risen from 11 to nearly 50 individuals.

Decisive decrease not yet visible

Decisive effects from the lockdown of 15 December have yet to be seen. Although there was a decrease in the number of people who were tested and the number of people who tested positive for COVID-19.

Minor decrease in percentage of people who tested positive, slower increase in hospital and ICU admissions

In the past week, from 23 to 29 December, the reported number of people who tested positive for COVID-19 was 67,388. This is a slight decrease of 11.7% compared to the week of 16 to 22 December.

The spread of the UK coronavirus variant in the Netherlands

The UK variant of the coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) has been found in 11 people in the Netherlands so far: 5 people in the Amsterdam region, 5 people in the Rotterdam region and 1 person in the Nijmegen

All signals still on red

The advance of the coronavirus (SARS-COV-2) in the Netherlands continues unabated. It is still too early to see the effects of the lockdown that was announced on 15 December.

Improvement of air quality continues

In 2019, the calculated concentrations of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and particulate matter (PM10) were below the European limit values in almost the whole of the Netherlands. Locally, the limit value for nitrogen dioxide is still being exceeded.

Major increase in hospital admissions and ICU admissions due to COVID-19

The increase in the reported number of people who tested positive for COVID-19 in the last two weeks was followed last week by an increase in the number of hospital and ICU admissions.