The number of new corona cases fell again on Sunday, falling below an important limit. In the past 24 hours, 1066 people tested positive for the corona virus. The Netherlands thus remains below the limit of 7 infections for every 100,000 inhabitants. The last time the number of infections fell below the so-called signal value was on September 13 last year, 273 days ago.
The signal value was set a year ago so that the government’s alarm bells would go off because the number of corona cases is rising too fast. If there are many infections, this can lead to many hospitalizations. The care then becomes overloaded.
To prevent that and to curb the spread of the coronavirus, the government might have to take stricter measures. That also happened: in October the cabinet decided on a partial lockdown and a hard lockdown followed in mid-December.
Number of positive tests is falling sharply
The number of positive tests has fallen sharply since the end of April. On Saturday, the number of new cases was just above the limit. At that time, the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) had received 1,265 reports of positive tests, equivalent to 7.3 for every 100,000 Dutch people. On Sunday that is 6.1 for every 100,000 Dutch people.
On Saturdays, the number of positive tests is usually still a bit on the high side, due to the results of people who had themselves tested in the previous days. The numbers are lowest on Sundays, Mondays and Tuesdays.
3 new deaths
In addition to the 1,066 new corona infections, RIVM has reported 3 new deaths in the past 24 hours. That does not mean that these people have died in the past 24 hours. When a corona patient dies, it can sometimes take a while before this is registered.
There were 63 new corona cases in Amsterdam last 24 hours, 53 in The Hague and 35 in Rotterdam. In Eindhoven, 19 people received a positive test result, just like in Nijmegen.
Significantly lower than weekly average
The number of new infections is considerably less than the weekly average on Sunday. In the past seven days, an average of 1426 new corona cases were registered per day.
ALSO READ: The Netherlands may be diving below signal value after more than 270 days
By: Bert van Doorn
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