BA.5 variant detected in the Netherlands The BA.5 variant of the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 was detected for the first time in the Netherlands this week.
Situation growing worse in the Netherlands 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.
The 2020 Nitrate Report: nitrate levels in the water on farms on the rise again since 2017 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.
Number of positive COVID-19 tests at the same level as last week 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.
Policy on coronavirus measures causes friction, but compliance is still high for now Compliance with the coronavirus measures in the Netherlands, such as the night-time curfew, working from home and avoiding crowds, is still high.
Brazilian coronavirus variants (P1 and P2) found in the Netherlands Two new variants of the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 have been found in the Netherlands, both originating from Brazil.
Last winter’s flu epidemic was short and mild. And then COVID-19 arrived. The flu epidemic in the winter of 2019/2020 was mild and lasted only 5 weeks.
UK variant gains ground in the Netherlands In the past week, from 20 to 26 January, the reported number of people who tested positive for COVID-19 decreased slightly, dropping by 8%.
Rise in new COVID-19 variants overshadows more positive developments A moderately positive overview in the number of newly reported people who tested positive for COVID-19 can be observed in the Netherlands in the week of 13 to 19 January, as an effect of the lockdown that started on 15 December.
Tentative decrease becomes visible For the second week in a row, the number of newly reported COVID-19 infections decreased somewhat. The percentage of people who tested positive for COVID-19 decreased slightly, dropping from 13.7% to 12.8%.