The Curfew seems to be having a slight effect on the number of Coronavirus cases
by Thomas Ansell
Following data from the Dutch governments’ Coronavirus dashboard for Groningen, Friesland, and Drenthe, each Province had between 150 and 200 new positive Coronavirus tests yesterday. With last week’s cold snap having caused a significant decrease in testing, so too the numbers of positive tests found: however with capacity back up this week, the daily positive case numbers look to be slightly down on the first half of January. The Curfew was brought in on January 23, and it seems to be gently easing the number of cases downwards.
However, there were still 167 new positive tests recorded in Drenthe yesterday, along with 137 in Groningen, and 185 in Friesland. This suggests that the ‘British variant’ might be gaining a hold in the North: it is thought to be about 30 percent more infectious, according to various health authorities.
In each of the Provinces, the number of positive Coronavirus cases per 100,000 people is somewhere between 22 and 35 people per 100,000 residents. In Friesland it is 28.5 per 100,000 people, Groningen 23.4 per 100,000 people, and Drenthe seems to be a bit of a hotspot of cases with 33.8 per 100,000 people.
The national Dutch picture looks less positive, with 165 people admitted to hospital on Wednesday (the most recently-available data), and 74 people dying from complications due to the Coronavirus yesterday. There were 4,618 positive tests across the Netherlands yesterday in total.
Some positive news comes from the vaccination programme, with 874,959 people vaccinated as of yesterday. Following the Dutch government’s predictions, by March there should have been more than 2 million vaccinations administered (assuming there aren’t any unforeseen occurrences).
Interestingly, RIVM data shows that overall 77 percent of Dutch people want a Coronavirus vaccine, with around 92 percent of people over 70 wanting a jab. The figures are less positive for people between 16 and 24 years old, with just 67 percent wanting an inoculation- this may become a cause for concern in the future.
