By Reuters Staff
2 Min Read
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - The Netherlands reported on Tuesday its highest number of new coronavirus infections in any week since the pandemic began, following a 60% rise in new cases over the past seven days.
FILE PHOTO: People with and without masks walk at the Red Light District, during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Amsterdam, Netherlands August 5, 2020. REUTERS/Eva Plevier
The 13,471 new infections reported by the National Institute for Health (RIVM) were part of a European surge that began shortly after summer vacations ended.
“We can now see the second wave,” the agency’s head, Jaap van Dissel, said in testimony before a parliamentary panel.
More coronavirus cases as testing increases, hospital numbers up by 20%
The number of tests carried out is up by 37%. Photo: Depositphotos.com
The number of people testing positive for coronavirus increased by more than 35% in the second week of December, according to the latest update from public health agency RIVM.
The rise was underpinned by a 37% increase in testing, with nearly 440,000 tests being carried out compared to 321,000 in the previous week.
However, the positive test rate went up to 12.0% while the R number, which measures the reproductive rate of the virus, was reckoned to have climbed to 1.24 at the end of November. Any value above 1 indicates that the number of infected people is increasing.
What s up
After a weekend of meetings with experts and fellow cabinet ministers, and mounting pressure to take further action against the rising number of coronavirus infections in the Netherlands, Prime Minister Mark Rutte has announced a last-minute press conference for Monday, December 14, at 7pm.
Additional press conference on Monday
Not even a week since he last addressed the Netherlands, Rutte has decided to give a speech about national coronavirus measures from his official office in The Hague. The last time he spoke to the public from his office was back in the spring, and sources are saying this decision is an attempt to re-establish a sense of urgency in the people of the Netherlands.