© rr
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Alarming figures from the Netherlands, just as our northern neighbors are crossing the border en masse to come shopping with us. The number of infections has risen by 35 percent in the past week. Despite the hard lockdown.
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After a few weeks of decreasing corona infections, the numbers are now rising sharply in the Netherlands. The National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) registered 113,554 positive corona tests in the past seven days, an increase of 35 percent compared to a week earlier.
Between Monday morning and Tuesday morning, 18,616 positive results of corona tests were registered in the Netherlands. That’s the highest number since December 9, nearly a month ago.
The number of hospital admissions fell slightly: 981 people became so sick from the virus that they had to go to hospital. That is 14 percent less than a week earlier. Of these people, 164 had to go to intensive care. Those are the lowest admissions since the end of October.
During the pandemic, it has been shown time and again that an increase in infection rates in the weeks that follow can lead to more hospitalizations. The question is to what extent this will happen again. “In the near future, with a rapidly increasing number of infections from omikron, the number of hospital admissions may increase again. Even if the omikron variant causes serious illness in a smaller proportion of infected people,” RIVM looks ahead.
RIVM is not commenting on a possible effect of the holidays. It is clear that many people visited each other around Christmas and New Year. The holidays coincided with the advance of the new variant, which became dominant in the Netherlands within a few weeks.
Amsterdam counted 1,636 positive tests in the past 24 hours. Never before has a Dutch municipality had so many positive tests in one day.
There is still a hard lockdown in the Netherlands. The catering industry must close at 5 p.m. That is why many northern neighbors came to celebrate the festivities in our country, especially in Antwerp. Or come shopping. Because all non-essential shops will remain closed for the time being.
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