Health authorities to stop daily Covid-19 reports; Outbreak team to only meet when necessary
From July 1st, public health institute RIVM will no longer publish the number of coronavirus diagnoses, hospitalizations and deaths on a daily basis. Instead, these figures will be released weekly. The government's Outbreak Management Team is also halting its regular meetings and will now only gather when necessary, was revealed during RIVM's weekly briefing in parliament on Thursday.
According to RIVM director Jaap van Dissel, the GGDs are currently testing around 10 thousand people per day for the coronavirus. Only 0.9 percent of tests come back positive. In most cases, the patient got the virus from a family member. In some cases, they got it from a colleague.
Research among blood donors showed that about a million Netherlands residents have had the virus - they have antibodies against it in their blood. That is about 5.5 percent of the population.
According to Van Dissel, the Netherlands is now in the final stages of this coronavirus outbreak. "It is now rare to see a positive case. We are looking at the last activities of this outbreak," he said. Daily figures and weekly outbreak management meetings are therefore not necessary at this stages. "We now have to keep our finger on the pulse and be alert to new flare ups of the virus."
