The number of corona cases also continues to rise in the Netherlands, despite the hard lockdown which is still in effect there. Between Thursday morning and Friday morning, no fewer than 34,954 positive results from corona tests were registered, by far the highest daily figure ever. It is the first time in the country that more than 25,000 new cases have been reported in one day.
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Read all about the coronavirus in this file.
On Thursday, the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), the Dutch equivalent of health institute Sciensano, reported about 24,700 positive tests. That was immediately the old record, but the figure was lower due to a malfunction. Not all confirmed infections were properly registered. As a result, it was already known that Friday’s figure would be higher.
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See also: the corona measures in the Netherlands are causing a massive influx of Dutch people to Antwerp
Omicron variant
The rapid increase was already expected. The omikron variant of the coronavirus is now also most common in the Netherlands and has supplanted the delta variant.
The new version of the virus is more contagious, but it may make people less sick. However, the new wave could also lead to more hospital admissions in a few weeks, experts fear, because the exponential increase in infections means that the power of the large numbers plays a role: although the percentage of people who have to go to hospital after an infection is lower than with delta, a wave of infections will still cause a large increase in hospital admissions.
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Fortunately it hasn’t come to that yet. The number of corona patients in Dutch hospitals will continue to decrease for the time being. The number of deaths is still not rising. A total of 141 deaths were reported in the past week, an average of about 20 per day. That is the lowest level since Nov. 5.
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I think we will soon conclude that the hard lockdown of December was the wise choice.
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The average number of new infections is rising rapidly. In the past seven days, RIVM registered a total of 150,409 new cases, an average of 21,487 per day. That is the highest level since December 6. The total for the past week is about 63 percent higher than the sum for the seven days before. That is the fastest weekly increase since July 18.
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Harsh intervention
Due to the rise of omikron, the Dutch cabinet introduced very strict new restrictions last month. For example, the non-essential shops and the catering industry are closed, and that at least until January 14. The Netherlands has therefore intervened much more vigorously than neighboring countries. At a press conference next week it will become clear whether the government will extend these measures.
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Caution
After his last council of ministers as ‘chef corona’, Dutch minister Hugo de Jonge (CDA) already tempered expectations about next week’s lockdown decision on Friday.
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“I think we will soon conclude that the hard lockdown of December was the wise choice,” said De Jonge after the meeting. “In countries where the rules were less strict, France and the United Kingdom for example, they are now faced with numbers of hospital admissions that, translated to our situation, are four times higher than they are now. In the Netherlands you would then have 600 new corona patients per day. Healthcare cannot handle that at all.” Compared to our country, our northern neighbors have half as many beds in intensive care.
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De Jonge did not want to anticipate the decision, but therefore stated that caution is required. “The high number of infections will lead to an increase in the number of patients, but you don’t know exactly how many. It is not the same as with previous waves, there is uncertainty. So you have to look carefully at what is possible.”
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A source within the Dutch Outbreak Management Team, comparable to our expert group GEMS, also stated after consultation on Friday morning that the picture is not simple, with high infection numbers on the one hand and reports about the less sickening omikron variant on the other. The experts will need the coming days to get a better picture of all the data, so that sound advice can be given to the cabinet on Wednesday.
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Booster
In the meantime, the Netherlands is committed to boosting, and it shows. The country is making rapid progress in the ranking of booster campaigns in Europe. Nearly 40 percent of all adults have now received a third shot in the Netherlands, good for a twelfth place. In recent days, Norway and Portugal, among others, have been overtaken. Belgium is in sixth place in the list.
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