RIVM: New Dutch Covid infections stable as reproduction number falls

Some 155,152 new positive coronavirus tests were registered in the past seven days, breaking the record set the week before by an increase of less than one percent. The National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) said it is a sign the situation is stabilizing, particularly as a 39 percent increase was determined seven days earlier.

”This stabilization is probably a result of the measures that came into effect in mid-November,” the RIVM said. Still, about 866 infections were found per 100,000 residents. There was a measurable 13 percent decrease in per capita infections of 18-24 year olds, and a 9 percent drop among those between 25 and 29. There was also a slight decrease of infections found in people in their seventies.

Those between the ages of 0 and 12 represent, by far, the most per capita infections out of any age group. That figure grew by another 12 percent. Increase were also measured with people in their thirties and forties, but the rate was far smaller.

A record number of 667,129 tests were completed by the GGD branches during the last calendar week. About 21.4 percent of those came back positive, down from 22.2 percent the previous week.

The basic reproduction (R) number also fell sharply. The figure, which indicates how quickly the coronavirus is spreading, now stands at 1.05. That figure is an estimate of the situation on November 16, after a review of two weeks of data. It shows that 100 people contagious with the coronavirus spread the infection to 105 others. They then passed it on to 110 people, who likely infected 116 more.

The R-number of 1.05 is the lowest level since late September. Last week it was still at about 1.20.

The number of hospital admissions did increase, the RIVM said based on data from intensive care monitor NICE. In the past week, 1,996 people had symptoms that required treatment in a hospital. That was 9 percent higher compared to 1,833 the week before and 1,390 the week before. The most recent figure is not corrected, while the two figures from earlier weeks were revised upwards.

It will still take one to two weeks before any change to daily coronavirus infections will impact hospitalizations for Covid-19. “We also saw this with the lockdown in December of 2020. A week after the fall in the number of [positive tests], hospital admissions fell, and ICU admissions fell the following week,” the RIVM stated.

Of the 1,996 admitted Covid-19 patients, 367 ended up in intensive care. That was about 27 percent more than a week earlier.

In contrast to the uncorrected data released by the RIVM, patient coordination office LCPS said that 2,420 people with the coronavirus disease were admitted to hospitals the past seven days. That was 8 percent higher than a week earlier. It includes 334 people sent directly to an intensive care unit, a 16 percent increase.

The RIVM also registered 367 deaths, compared to 265 in the previous week.