Some 38,776 people in the Netherlands tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus for the week ending Tuesday morning, the RIVM said in its weekly analysis. It said that despite a near 22 percent drop in infections, and a further decrease in the rate of people testing positive, the agency was increasingly concerned about the rise of the B117 coronavirus mutation.
The variant, which first surfaced in the United Kingdom, was believed to have infected 10 percent of those who tested positive in the Netherlands last week. “That is double compared to the week before. It is expected that this will rise to at least half of all new infections by mid-February,” the RIVM said in a statement.
