The number of positive coronavirus tests reported to the public health institute RIVM continued to rise on Saturday, with 1,146 registrations in the 24 hours to 10am. That is up 194 on Friday’s total.

The increase takes the average cases over the past seven days to 740, up 14% on the previous week.

The Netherlands removed most of its regulations to control the spread of the virus, including the use of face masks in closed spaces, on June 26. It also allowed clubs and concert halls to reopen to the public and to stop social distancing, as long as everyone had a negative ‘test for entry’ test.

The RIVM said on Friday half the coronavirus cases currently reported in the Netherlands are now thought to be down to the fast-moving Delta variant. Two weeks ago, the Delta variant was found in 17% of positive tests sampled by the RIVM, broadcaster NOS reported.

‘We have to look at how the number of infections develops,’ RIVM spokesman Harald Wychers said. ‘Our model is based on hospital admissions where the trend is favourable. In addition, there have been a tremendous number of infections,’ he said. ‘Things look calm for the summer for the time being.’

Vaccinations

Meanwhile the AD reported on Saturday that almost everyone admitted to hospital in the past few weeks had not been vaccinated, or had only had one dose.

The paper contacted a number of leading hospitals, including the Amsterdam UMC, the Erasmus MC in Rotterdam and the Maastricht UMC. Each hospital said it had only treated a handful or no patients who had been fully vaccinated.

There is no nationwide registration covering hospital admissions and vaccinations but a number of doctors told the paper they would like to see such a system introduced, to get a better idea of how effective the vaccines are.