Covid-19: New infections down slightly, but hospitalizations rise

For the first time in six weeks, the Netherlands showed a decrease in the number of people who were infected with the novel coronavirus responsible for respiratory illness Covid-19. Official figures from public health agency RIVM showed that another 4,013 people tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 novel coronavirus. That total was a slight decrease of 23 new infections compared to last week.

A total of 63,973 people were known to have been infected with the virus since late February. Of that group, 6,175 people have died as a result of respiratory illness Covid-19, including 19 more deaths which were also linked to the viral infection this week.

Additionally, 50 more hospitalizations were also linked to the coronavirus disease, up from 38 in the last weekly report. Some 12,042 people in the Netherlands. have been hospitalized with Covid-19 since the end of February. All of the newly revealed hospital patients were admitted to a medical facility between August 5 and August 16.

The RIVM cited data from intensive care nonprofit NICE which showed that 25 people with Covid-19 were admitted to the ICU for treatment last week. That was an increase of seven compared to the week prior.

Of the infections disclosed by the RIVM on Tuesday, two-thirds were found in residents of either Noord- or Zuid-Holland. Preliminary data from the week showed that the most positive tests were in the cities of Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague. The night before the report was released, Health Minister Hugo de Jonge said it was likely that new restrictions would be introduced in Amsterdam.

Not all of the newly revealed infections took place since the last weekly report from the RIVM was released. The data shows that during the seven-day period which ended at approximately Tuesday at 10 a.m., 3,881 people were known to have tested positive, four fewer than what the RIVM reported last week. The RIVM also added 275 more infections to the statistics for the week ending on Tuesday, August 11.

About 3.5 percent of people who were tested for the virus were given a positive result, down from 3.6 percent in the previous period. Between the GGD, hospitals and clinics, a total of 111,241 tests were completed last week. That was down about 2.5 percent, though it was possible more test results were still being processed for the week. Despite that decrease, over 102 thousand people were tested by the GGD municipal health services, an increase of 3,500.

Over 1.31 million tests for the coronavirus have been completed since the end of February.

For at least the third straight week, the basic reproduction (R) number, including the margin of error in the RIVM's model, was fully above 1.00, a benchmark the Cabinet set for the introduction of new coronavirus measures. The R number was revealed to be 1.19, meaning that 100 contagious people will infect 119 others.

Travel-related coronavirus infections

Some 738 people who tested positive over the past week had travelled abroad at some point in the 14 days leading up to when they were tested. The vast majority of those people, 86 percent, had visited another country in the European Union.

That includes 195 people who tested positive after visiting France, 184 who had been in Spain, and 58 who flew to the Netherlands from Malta.

The non-EU country with the highest total was Turkey, with 64.