Coronavirus infections doubled last week; 15-24 year olds represent majority of new cases
Some 8,541 people in the Netherlands tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus infection over the past seven days, public health agency RIVM said on Tuesday. That is more than double the total from the previous week, and the first weekly increase reported since the end of April.
”The share of infections related to catering and parties has increased sharply in the past week,” the RIVM said. Nationally and across all age groups, the number of infections per 100 thousand residents jumped from 25 to 50. The rate in which people tested positive for the infection rose dramatically from 3.1 to 4.5 percent.
The RIVM data showed that 4,811 of the new infections were found in people between the ages of 15 and 24, or 56 percent. The per capita rate of infection among people 18 to 24 more than tripled.
“The percentage of positive tests among 18-24 year olds increased from 5.9% to 10.5% in the past week, and from 3.8% to 5.1% for 25-29 year olds,” the RIVM said. Over the past few days, there had been renewed concern over the spread of the viral infection in young people. This issue was first raised with high school students returning from vacations in Spain and Portugal after finishing their final exams.
People who took a trip within 14 days of their positive coronavirus test represented about 11.1 percent of those who tested positive during the week-long period ending Tuesday morning. The most popular destinations were Spain (420), Portugal (242) and Germany (51).
Fear of rising infections and clusters in cities across the Netherlands also drove an increase in coronavirus testing for the first time since mid-April. Over 154 thousand people showed up at a GGD branch to be tested for the infection, a 22 percent rise.
On June 21, the most acurate model for the spread of the coronavirus infection showed that 100 contagious people infected 97 others. There were about 11 thousand people contagious with the virus on June 28.
While infections soared over the last week, hospitalizations for Covid-19 fell by exactly half to 47. Of that total, seven people were admitted into intensive care units straight away, down from 17 the previous week. The RIVM also learned of 13 deaths caused by Covid-19, down from 15.
To date, people in the Netherlands have tested positive for the coronavirus infection 1,692,834 times. About 30 thousand people have died from Covid-19, including 17,758 fatalities reported to the RIVM and thousands more reported only to the national statistics office CBS.
Intensive care units have treated 12,854 people for Covid-19, with a 72 percent survival rate. The other hospital departments treated 57,890 patients with an 86.5 percent survival rate.
