Weekly update on the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2: 4 December 2024

Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 stabilises in the Netherlands

Circulation of SARS-CoV-2 in the Netherlands remained stable last week. In week 48 (25 November – 1 December 2024), the national average viral load detected in wastewater surveillance was comparable to the week before that.

The percentage of participants who tested positive for COVID-19 in the  Infection Radar survey was 0.5% last week (25 November – 1 December 2024). This is slightly lower than the week before that (0.6%). The samples taken last week from some of the patients who saw their GP for respiratory symptoms showed SARS-CoV-2 in  4 of the 33 samples. Based on the laboratories that reported positive SARS-CoV-2 tests in the weekly virological status reports, the number of positive tests decreased slightly last week compared to the week before. 

Besides SARS-CoV-2, other viruses and bacteria can also cause respiratory infections. See the latest situation update on respiratory viruses in the Netherlands (in Dutch). The latest situation update on SARS-CoV-2 variants is available here.

Long-term symptoms

How long it takes for someone to recover from COVID-19 can differ from one person to another. Some people have long-term symptoms that persist after a SARS-CoV-2 infection. This is called post-COVID or Long COVID. Since 28 June 2024, a new research portal has been launched for people with post-COVID.

*The daily number of unique survey participants reporting a positive COVID-19 test, summed up for the entire calendar week (Monday through Sunday). The positive test result could come from a self-test, PCR test or rapid antigen test. The percentage of participants who get a COVID-19 test when they have symptoms may fluctuate over time. These results are not from the nose and throat swabs sent in through the self-test study that started in September 2022.

**The National Coordination Centre for Patient Distribution (LCPS) reports the number of newly admitted patients with SARS-CoV-2 in hospital nursing wards. These reports are provided on working days, covering the period between 10:00 on the previous day and 10:00 on the reporting day. The day before the reporting day is considered to be the admission date. RIVM calculates the average number of newly admitted patients in the nursing ward and the average number of beds occupied in the nursing ward and ICU per day for a calendar week (Monday to Sunday) by adding the number of patients or number of occupied beds per admission day in a calendar week and dividing by the number of admission days for which these new admissions are reported.

Data of 2019/2020 season is available from week 14 of 2020. Week 53 of 2020 is not included in this figure. 

Based on data available at RIVM on Wednesdays, as published in the open data and presented on the Coronavirus Dashboard. See the webpage about Sewage water surveillance for the most recent data. See the explanation of the data presented for more details about how these figures are calculated. 

The daily number of unique survey participants reporting a positive COVID-19 test, summed up for the entire calendar week (Monday through Sunday). The positive test result could come from a self-test, PCR test or rapid antigen test. These results are not from the nose and throat swabs sent in through the self-test study that started in September 2022. Source: Infectieradar RIVM.

Posting schedule for COVID-19 updates

Updates When
Weekly update on the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 Weekly on Wednesday afternoon

Figures on the COVID-19 vaccination programme

Even weeks on Wednesday afternoon
Figures on vaccine effectiveness in preventing hospital admissions The date of the next update has not yet been determined
Mortality figures Weekly on Thursday afternoon
Figures on pathogen surveillance of virus variants Even weeks on Wednesday afternoon
Figures on coronavirus monitoring in wastewater research Weekly on Wednesday afternoon
RIVM provides access to the underlying data sets for various topics related to COVID-19. This includes data on reported cases of COVID-19, pathogen surveillance results, and sewage surveillance results. The data is publicly available to download.