Netherlands confirms four more Covid-19 deaths; 1,715 active infections

Four more people died as a result of respiratory illness Covid-19, public health agency RIVM said on Saturday. The agency said one person died on Friday, two more on Thursday, and another on June 6.

As of Saturday morning, 6,057 were known to have died because of the coronavirus disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 viral strain. A total of 11,822 have been hospitalized with the infection.

That was an increase of nine, the RIVM said. Those hospital admissions mostly took place between June 4 and June 11, with one more patient admission registered in late May.

The government also estimated that 1,715 people had an active SARS-CoV-2 infection on Saturday. The reproduction rate, or the number of people infected by someone with the virus, was at 0.85, below the government's target of 1. Should the rate of infection increase, the Cabinet could discuss new restrictions to keep the contagious disease in check.

To date, 48,640 people have tested positive for an active infection, an increase of 179. Most of those new positive cases were recorded on Friday.

This week, the healthcare system has been carrying out about 10 thousand tests per day, more than any other week since testing began. The agency does not usually reveal statistics about the number of tests completed on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday until the next business day.