Survey shows 22% not washing hands after toilet use; Covid-19 deaths tops 6,050

Public health agency RIVM said that nine more people died from respiratory illness Covid-19, raising the total number of deaths to 6,053. Additionally, five more people were treated in a hospital for the coronavirus disease. To date, 11,813 have been admitted to a hospital for Covid-19 since late February.

The RIVM also said it discovered 210 more people who were infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus, bringing the number of positive cases in the Netherlands to 48,461. So far, 455,067 have been tested for the virus. For two days in a row, the country has tested over 10 thousand people, the first time preliminary data has shown so many tests in a single day, a figure which has steadily risen since June 1, when the public was able to start scheduling their own tests.

Meanwhile, the agency also released new research on Friday that showed that people are finding it harder and harder to maintain the safe physical distance of 1.5 meters, with about 62 percent saying they are successful. Additionally, 78 percent said they wash their hands after they use the toilet, 10 percent did mostly, and 5 percent said they often washed their hands after going to the bathroom. Data was not presented for the other seven percent of respondents.

Still, "compliance with hygiene measures such as washing hands is still going well," the RIVM said, based on the survey it conducted with municipal health service GGD. In speaking with 64 thousand people last month, the survey found that 41 percent do indeed wash their hands more than ten times daily.

Over 75% still leaving the house with cold, flu symptoms

More frighteningly perhaps is that more people who have cold symptoms said they will not stay indoors or get tested for the SARS-CoV-2 infection. "Home isolation is proving to be a difficult task," the RIVM said. "First, this advice applies to people with a cold, fever or shortness of breath. Of the people who have these complaints, 77% indicate that they have left home in the past week and 51% have received visitors."

About 95 percent said they would go into isolation for two weeks if they tested positive for the virus. Roughly 85 percent said they would comply if a housemate tested positive, and 43 percent said they would if they knowingly encountered someone with Covid-19.

Fewer than two percent of people said they still shake hands with other people, while 90 percent said they comply with having visits of no more than three people. About 82 percent are no longer visiting those in frail health.