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.

On Thursday 20 January, Nature Nanotechnology published the article Quantitative tracing of uptake and transport of submicrometre plastics in crop plants using lanthanide chelates as a dual-functional tracer.

A new study conducted by RIVM shows that the PAHs and metals present in the living environment of residents of the IJmond region predominantly originate from the Tata Steel site.

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.

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.

Dutch research results published today show that the protection offered by vaccination or previous infection is less effective in preventing infection with the Omicron variant of the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 than infection with the Delta variant. 

Infections involving the Omicron variant are still in the minority for now, but are increasing rapidly.

RIVM published a new online edition of the Dutch food composition database (NEVO).

Vaccination offers more than 80% protection against an infection with the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 among people under 70 years old who are tested due to symptoms.