No end in sight for Dutch coronavirus wave, says ECDC

The Netherlands is not yet at the peak of the current coronavirus wave. According to the European health service ECDC, the number of positive tests will continue to rise for the time being. The organization calculates that more than 186,000 Netherlands residents will find out they're infected next week.

There could even be nearly 225,000 positive tests next week in the worst-case scenario, an average of almost 32,000 new cases per day. In that case, 1 in every 78 Netherlands residents will get positive test results.

Over 150,000 positive tests were registered in the Netherlands in the past seven days. That is above the ECDC expectations last week. In the week before, the number of new cases was also higher than the ECDC had calculated.

The number of hospital admissions, the number of intensive care admissions, and the number of deaths in the Netherlands will continue to rise for the time being, the European health service expects.

The ECDC also estimated the risk of the development of the epidemic. For Europe as a whole, the risk is very high. On a scale of 1 to 10, the ECDC came to an 8.3. The Netherlands is well above that at 9.3. Only the Czech Republic (10) and Croatia (9.5) have an even higher risk. The level is falling in Belgium and Italy, among others.

To calculate the risk, the ECDC looks at the number and percentage of positive tests, but also the number of cases among people over 65 because they are more at risk if infected. The ECDC also includes the number of hospitalizations and deaths in its calculations.