Last week around 3.5% of participants in the ‘Infectieradar’ survey mentioned COVID-19 related complaints. According to the latest updates from RIVM, he number of people with positive corona test results increased by 15% compared to the previous week. This increase in the number of infection was visible in all age groups and in all regions. The number of newly hospitalised patients with SARS-CoV-2 increased by 19%, the number of new patients with SARS-CoV-2 in the ICU intensive care decreased by 25%, compared to the week before.
Sewage surveillance
An increase of 27.2% in the national average number of virus particles in the sewage water was observed in week 25 compared to week 24. The sewage figures were highest in the west of the country, especially in and around The Hague. In the first half of week 26, the average number of virus particles increased further by 38.7%, the figures were very high in and around Amsterdam. The Omikron variant BA.5 was most frequently observed in the sewage water in week 25. The BA.4 and BA.2.12.1 variant were found to a lesser extent.
Virus variants from pathogen surveillance
To date, the Omikron variant has five subvariants that are followed with extra attention: the so-called BA.1, BA.2 (including subvariant BA.2.12.1), BA.3, BA.4 and BA.5 variants. Recently, an increase in subvariant BA.5 has been seen in many countries. The share of this variant is monitored in the germ surveillance and also determined by variant PCR test. BA.5 has been the dominant variant in the Netherlands since June.
Numbers
According to the RIVM updates, last week 39,283 persons reported positive corona test results and 520 persons were newly hospitalised. Among the hospitalised patients, 24 were admitted to Intensive care units. The mortality number increased to 30 COVID-19 related deaths as compared to 15 death week before.
Source: RIVM.nl
Translated: Yawar Abbas
