COVID-19 vaccines work well in preventing people from being admitted to hospital or ICU for COVID-19, according to a new analysis by RIVM.

Vaccination against COVID-19 reduces the transmission of the virus from one person to another. This is apparent from RIVM research using data from source and contact tracing by the Municipal Public Health Services (GGDs).

The RIVM vaccination update this week has been expanded to include three maps of the Netherlands. For the first time, it is now possible to see vaccination turnout by municipality for everyone aged 18 years and over.

541 new COVID-19 hospital admissions were reported last week, 23 fewer than in the week before, when 564 people with COVID-19 were admitted to hospital.

Starting next week, eligible people who are not mobile enough to come to a vaccination site will be vaccinated at home. The GP will vaccinate them using the AstraZeneca vaccine. The vaccines will be delivered in phases per province.

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.

The Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport (VWS) has decided to resume vaccinating with the COVID-19 vaccine made by AstraZeneca within the near future.

The downward trend in infections among nursing home residents in the Netherlands is continuing.

Five groups of patients with specific medical risks will receive an invitation for COVID-19 vaccination this week or next week. It involves four groups of patients with impaired immune systems.