Lockdowns have a negative impact on the physical and mental health of many young people. They get less exercise and experience more feelings of depression, loneliness and insecurity.

The personal protective equipment (PPE) purchased at the national level during the COVID-19 crisis for use in the healthcare sector only partly met the required standards of quality.

Last week*, 242,961 positive COVID-19 tests were reported to RIVM**. That is an increase of 21% compared to the week before that.

201,536 positive COVID-19 tests were reported to RIVM last week. That is an increase of 77% compared to the previous week. Such high numbers of reported infections within just one week have never been seen before in the Netherlands.

In the past week*, the number of reported positive COVID-19 tests increased by 35% compared to the week before that. The number of people tested by the GGD was about the same.

In the week from 17 to 23 March, 46,005 people received a positive test result for COVID-19, an increase of 16% compared to the week before that. The reproduction number continued to rise, from 1.06 on 1 March to 1.11 on 8 March.

More nitrogen and phosphorus have been ending up in the soil on farms since 2015. As a result, nitrate concentrations have been rising since 2017 in leachates and ditch water from those farms.

In the week from 2 to 9 March, 31,959 people received a positive test result for COVID-19, about the same as in the week before that. More than 360,000 people were tested, an increase of nearly 14% compared to the week before that.

Compliance with the coronavirus measures in the Netherlands, such as the night-time curfew, working from home and avoiding crowds, is still high.

Together with the water boards, RIVM is currently testing sewage samples for the presence of the novel coronavirus. This involves a total of more than 300 sampling points at sewage treatment plants throughout the Netherlands.