COVID-19 pandemic in the Netherlands

viral outbreak in the Netherlands

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic was confirmed to have spread to the Netherlands on 27 February 2020.

COVID-19 pandemic in the Netherlands
From left to right: An empty Dam Square in Amsterdam after social distancing measures, military bringing in medical equipment in a hospital, empty shelves in a supermarket because of panic buying.
Confirmed cases per 100,000 inhabitants by municipality.
Confirmed cases by province from 21 to 31 March 2020.
DiseaseCOVID-19
Virus strainSARS-CoV-2
LocationNetherlands
Index caseTilburg
Arrival date27 February 2020
(4 years, 8 months, 4 weeks and 1 day)
Confirmed cases43,841[1]
Recoveredunknown[a]
Deaths
5,590[1]

The first COVID-19 case was confirmed in Tilburg. It was a 56-year-old Dutchman who had arrived in the Netherlands from Italy. As of 14 May, there are 43,481 confirmed cases of infection and 5,590 confirmed COVID-19-deaths.[1] The first death occurred on 6 March, when an 86-year-old patient died in Rotterdam.[3]

Response

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Measures were taken by the Rutte III cabinet for the public health to prevent the spread of this virus disease, including the “intelligent lockdown”.[4]

Testing

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By mid-March, the country could test about 1,000 samples per day, which is less than other European countries.[5] This explains the large number of deaths in COVID cases there.[6]

  1. The Dutch Government agency RIVM, responsible for the constituent country the Netherlands, does not count its number of recoveries.[2]

References

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  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Current information about the novel coronavirus (COVID-19)". rivm.nl. Retrieved 10 May 2020.
  2. "Coronavirus in the Netherlands: the questions you want answered". Dutch News. 12 March 2020.
  3. "Patiënt met nieuw coronavirus overleden". rivm.nl (in Dutch). 6 March 2020. Retrieved 7 March 2020.
  4. Maarten Keulemans (2020-03-12). "Are we doing enough? RIVM boss Van Dissel: 'As soon as something indicates infection in the family: isolation'". de Volkskrant (in Dutch). Retrieved 2020-03-13.
  5. Newmark, Zack (21 March 2020). "Coronavirus cases surge to 3,631 as 30 more Dutch patients die". NL Times.
  6. Waster, Jeroen (20 March 2020). "Groeiende kritiek experts op gebrek aan testen in Nederland" (in Dutch).