Substantial drop in coronavirus infections as fewer people get tested

Another 8,215 people in the Netherlands tested positive for an infection of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, public health agency RIVM said on Friday. The new figure shifted the seven-day moving average to 8,777, the lowest that number has been since December 15 when he government put the country into a new lockdown.

Friday’s total was 29 percent lower than a week ago, and was about 15 percent down from Thursday’s tally. That was not necessarily something to celebrate, a spokesperson for the RIVM told Nu.nl.

From Thursday morning through 10 a.m. on Friday, about 40 thousand coronavirus tests were completed across the country. Municipal health service GGD was averaging about 63 thousand tests earlier this week, and 80 thousand tests per weekday last week, the spokesperson said.

On top of that, the RIVM’s delay in reporting data on Friday could mean that some figures were not included and will be added to upcoming reports.

So far this calendar week, the RIVM has said that 42,452 people were diagnosed with the coronavirus infection, down 20 percent compared to last week. Much of that decrease was also believed to be due to fewer people showing up for a coronavirus test over the Christmas period, which impacted initial results for several days.

To date, 805,196 people in the Netherlands have tested positive for the infection. That includes 11,530 who were known to have died from Covid-19, a total which rose by 98 on Friday and raised the moving average to 87.