Decline in coronavirus infections continues to slow

The drop in coronavirus infections has almost ground to a halt in the last seven days, latest figures from the public health agency RIVM show.

Another 5,214 cases were reported in the 24 hours to 10am on Monday, 182 fewer than Sunday’s figure but 8% higher than the number recorded a week earlier.

Over the past 7 days the number of new infections has dropped by just 2.1% on average, compared to more than 30% two weeks ago at the start of the two-week accelerated lockdown.

The number of patients being treated in hospital increased for the second day in a row to 1,968, of whom 536 were in intensive care – four fewer than on Sunday. The RIVM reported another 54 deaths from Covid-19, compared to an average of 60 for the past seven days.

The network of local health services (GGDs), which organises coronavirus testing, said 25,000 more tests were carried out last week compared to the previous week, a 10% increase. Currently around 35,000 tests are carried out in the Netherlands per day.

It is the first time since mid-October that the number of tests has increased week to week. In total more than four million coronavirus tests have been carried out.