Nearly a thousand more test positive for coronavirus; Worrisome says RIVM

Another 964 people tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 novel coronavirus, public health agency RIVM said on Tuesday, more than double last Tuesday's total. The update was revealed the same day as the RIVM disclosed a weekly jump of over 51 percent in new infections. Compared to last week, the number of infected people who were believed to be contagious was nearly 43,400, an increase of 47 percent.

A week ago, Aura Timen, the doctor in charge of the National Coordination of Infectious Disease Control at the RIVM, said her agency had "managed to slow down the big increase" in infections after three straight weeks of declining figures. Her tone changed completely with the agency's new report on Tuesday.

"Last week, I was very optimistic, but the situation at that moment was temporary," Timen said to broadcaster NOS.

Timen said that the sudden increase in infections among those aged 20-24 has not translated to new hospital cases because they likely had little contact in person with elderly people. "But it may also be the case that older people are taking measures to prevent them from ending up in busy situations, and that they are going outside less often," Timen said.

"The number of COVID patients admitted has risen very slightly in recent days. This is not a cause for concern at the moment, the numbers remain low," said Ernst Kuipers, the head of the Dutch acute care providers network.

Patient coordination office LCPS said that 146 people with Covid-19 were being treated in Dutch hospitals on Tuesday, an increase of six in one day. Thirty of those patients were in intensive care, a decrease of one, while 116 others were being treated in different hospital departments, an increase of seven.

The RIVM said that six more people were moved into ICUs for the coronavirus disease from Saturday through Monday, with 20 Covid-19 patients admitted to hospitals during that time in total. Some 3,056 have been treated in intensive care for the disease since the end of February, and 889 of them died in the ICU, sad nonprofit organization NICE. It estimated that 2,008 were discharged from the hospital after treatment.