Nearly 14% of coronavirus tests last week came back positive; 44K new infections
An official epidemiology report from public health agency RIVM over the past seven days of coronavirus data showed that 43,903 more people were diagnosed with the SARS-CoV-2 infection. Approximately 13.8 percent of all those tested by municipal health service GGD tested positive, a rate which stood at 10.4 percent a week ago.
"Over 16,000 more [tested positive] than in the previous week, an increase of 60%. To date, no effect can be seen of the national measures which took effect on September 29," the RIVM said in a statement. There was also no sign that the increase in infections was beginning to stabilize.
Some of the increase was attributable to an increase of testing, with over 280,500 people getting tested by the GGD, an increase of almost 58 thousand. The basic reproduction (R) number for the infection rose to 1.27, meaning 100 contagious people will likely infect 127 others.
In fact, 22 of 25 security regions in the Netherlands registered over 150 of every 100 thousand inhabitants testing positive for the viral infection during the past week, which would place them all at the most serious of three risk levels. The situation has worsened to the point where the government was expected to add a fourth level to its scale so it could more adequately monitor the regional situation.
Additionally, 452 more Covid-19 hospitalizations were disclosed, and the coronavirus disease killed 150 others, an increase of 69 percent. Among the dead was one person in their late thirties with the rest believed to be 55 years of age or older.
"[Statistics Netherlands] reported last week that for the second week in a row that more people have died than expected. The higher mortality coincides with the emerging second wave of the epidemic of the new coronavirus," the RIVM said in a statement.
Nearly 189 thousand people have tested positive for the virus as of 10 a.m. on Tuesday, the RIVM said. That includes 13,470 who have required hospitalization. The viral infection has been named the cause of death for 6,631 people since the end of February. A majority of the deaths and hospitalizations reported on Tuesday occurred during the preceding seven-day period, though some also took place throughout September.
Some 544 infections over the past week were tied to people who traveled within 14 days of getting tested. The destinations visited most frequently were Germany (127), Belgium (81) and Italy (65).
