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.

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.

The first mental health clients in inpatient or residential care in four large institutions in the Netherlands will be vaccinated against COVID-19 this week.

RIVM is launching a survey-based study this week on risk factors for the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2.  The participants in this study are people who get tested for COVID-19 in a GGD test lane.

In the past week, from 27 January to 2 February, 28,628 people in the Netherlands reportedly tested positive for COVID-19, a 20% decrease compared to the week of 20 to 26 January.

The Pharmacovigilance Centre Lareb announced today that the centre had received a report of death shortly after receiving the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccination in the Netherlands.

The vast majority of the laboratories analysing COVID-19 tests are performing at the very highest standard of quality.

RIVM is preparing for implementation of the coronavirus vaccinations. As soon as there is a safe and effective vaccine against the novel coronavirus, it will be quickly and carefully deployed to vaccinate the target groups.

In the past week, the Municipal Health Services (GGDs) reported 36,931 new reports of confirmed COVID infections. This is about the same as in the previous week, when 37,706 new COVID-19 infections were reported (-2%).