Decline in coronavirus cases slows down, positive test rate up

Coronavirus cases fell by 8% in the second week of August, but the percentage of all tests that were positive was up, according to the latest weekly update by the RIVM.

The infection rate per week dropped from 103 to 98 per 100,000 people, but the number of tests taken decreased by 15%. The positive test rate was 14.6%, compared to 12.9% a week ago.

Hospital admissions declined by 6% to 408, while 90 people were admitted to intensive care, down from 121 a week ago.

On Tuesday there were 686 Covid-19 patients in hospital, down from 703 the day before, of whom 199 were in intensive care. Another 2,358 cases were reported in the previous 24 hours, up by 9.1% from last Tuesday’s figure.

The reproductive number R was calculated at 0.92 based on infections on August 2, up from 0.79 on July 26. A figure below 1 indicates that fewer people are being infected over time.

Around the 25 health council regions the infection rate ranged from 65 per 100,000 in Drenthe to 175 in Amsterdam-Amstelland. 53.2% of all cases are in people under 30.

One in five people who tested positive in the last week reported that they had travelled abroad in the two weeks beforehand. Visitors to four countries – France, Spain, Greece and Turkey – accounted for half of these infections.