New monkeypox infections fall to lowest point since early June

Thirty people tested positive for the monkeypox virus in the Netherlands this past week. That is the smallest weekly number since early June. A total of 1,166 infections have now been confirmed by the RIVM, the country's public health institute.

Experts, including those from the RIVM, had previously warned that the Pride events celebrating diverse sexualities and genders could lead to a "more intensive spread" of the virus. The biggest events were held about a month ago, and those who contract monkeypox experience the first symptoms 5 to 21 days later.

The incubation period following the Pride events has now passed. According to the RIVM, about forty Pride participants have tested positive. The actual number could be slightly higher.

When people have become infected from visiting house parties during Pride, source and contact researchers may indicate the infections are the result of a home visit and not the Pride events, the RIVM explained. "But if the increase in infections remains so low, we will no longer expect huge numbers."

Since the start of the current monkeypox outbreak, a total of 684 infections have been registered in a region encompassing both Noord-Holland and Flevoland, and 194 in Zuid-Holland. Most people who have tested positive are men who engage in sexual activity with other men.

Some in that group can be vaccinated preventively against the monkeypox virus. About 32,000 people have been invited, and 12,828 jabs have been administered so far. That means that about 40 percent of the high-risk group have been vaccinated. In Amsterdam, 5,131 shots were taken, the highest of anywhere in the Netherlands.

Nearly 2,400 new shots were taken in the past week, which is comparable to the weeks before.