Netherlands about to reach 4 millionth Covid case

The Dutch health services diagnosed a million new coronavirus infections in just over a month. That means that the Netherlands increased from 3 million to 4 million registered positive tests in record time. That limit will likely be crossed on Tuesday.

On Monday, the counter stood at 3,954,299 positive tests. If the RIVM receives at least 35,702 reports of new cases between Monday morning and Tuesday morning, the total will rise to more than 4 million. That seems likely, as the RIVM reported an average of 49,047 positive tests per day over the past seven days. Tuesday is day 699 of the epidemic. 

The coronavirus was first diagnosed in the Netherlands on 27 February 2020. Patient 1 was a man from Loon op Zand in Noord-Brabant who became infected during a trip to Italy for work. Not everyone was tested in the first wave. That was possible in the second wave, but then the enthusiasm was so great that not everyone could get a test appointment. It is unknown how many people recovered or died from the coronavirus without being officially diagnosed. 

It took almost a year for the 1 millionth positive test to be registered. That happened at the beginning of February 2021. At the end of September, nearly eight months later, the 2 millionth positive test followed. Number 3 million was reached about three months later, in December. 

Amsterdam has had the most coronavirus cases, with 229,609 positive tests registered in the capital. Rotterdam follows in second place with 178,616 confirmed infections. The Hague has 125,870 coronavirus cases and Utrecht 87,495. This is followed by Tilburg (55,837), Eindhoven (49,598), Almere (49,181), Groningen (40,524), and Den Bosch (38,649). Schiermonnikoog has the least cases with 96 confirmed infections.

A total of 21,219 people in the Netherlands definitely died from a coronavirus infection. Rotterdam has the most deaths (1,076), followed by Amsterdam (975) and The Hague (647). The Gelderland villa village of Rozendaal is the only Dutch municipality with no registered coronavirus deaths.