It started in Loon op Zand. Then Diemen. The first two corona infections in the Netherlands were diagnosed there at the end of February. After that, the new corona virus spread like an oil slick across the country. Sunday is the 200th day of the outbreak.
The number of confirmed infections exceeded 80,000 on Saturday. About 1,000 new cases come to light every day. If this continues, the 100,000th infection will be determined at the end of September. But the actual number of patients has probably passed that limit long ago, because not everyone was tested in the early days of the outbreak.
The first corona patients had been in Italy and Austria, for work or vacation. The virus spread quickly there due to carnival parties in North Brabant, among other things. The east of that province was particularly badly affected. Later on a new seat of fire arose on the bible belt, a long strip of predominantly Reformed villages. The virus spread in places like Nunspeet, Hasselt and Goeree-Overflakkee. Residents of nursing homes were also infected and died.
Fuller hospitals
The first wave made hospitals more and more crowded. Intensive careers were quickly expanded and the other care was stopped. To prevent the spread of the virus, the cabinet decided to temporarily close schools in mid-March. Students had to be taught at home. Gyms, restaurants, cafes, nightclubs and cinemas were also closed. Residents of nursing homes were no longer allowed to receive visitors. Offices decided that people had to work from home. Some people start their 27th week of working from home on Monday.
The number of infections decreased from mid-April. May, June and July were quiet months. The virus was not gone, but no more than a few dozen cases were diagnosed per day. However, the number of infections has increased again since the end of July. It is no longer about dozens of cases per day, but about dozens of cases per hour. The new patients are mainly people in their twenties and thirties from the big cities, including students. They contract the corona virus in the catering industry, among other places.
Amsterdam has the most infections. Since the outbreak began, the virus has been diagnosed there 7619 times. In Rotterdam the counter is at 6643, in The Hague 4,347 residents have been tested positive and the municipality of Utrecht has 2368 infected citizens. Other cities with many infections are Tilburg (1310), Maastricht (1048), Nijmegen (997), Breda (980), Almere (901) and Eindhoven (866).
Of the infected persons, 12,200 became so ill that they had to be hospitalized. Most of the admitted patients came from Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, Utrecht and Tilburg. Behind this is the Brabant municipality of Meierijstad with 211 hospital admissions.
The official death toll is at 6235. Rotterdam leads that list with 357 deceased residents. This is followed by Amsterdam, The Hague, Tilburg, Maastricht, Meierijstad, Utrecht, Oss, Eindhoven and Den Bosch.
By: ANP | Photo: ANP
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