THE HAGUE - In the Caribbean part of the Kingdom, the number of positive corona tests rose sharply last week, according to the weekly update of the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) on Friday. On all islands, the total number of confirmed infections has increased by 116 percent. Because the omicron variant of the coronavirus was also identified among those tests, RIVM will examine a larger number of test samples in the coming weeks.
On almost all islands, the number of positive tests increased in the week from December 16 to 22. Most infections were established in Curaçao: 425. The island wants to give everyone a booster shot as soon as possible to prevent a further increase.
In Aruba and Sint Maarten, the number of positive tests per 100,000 inhabitants increased. This number also rose on Bonaire, while the number of positive tests had fallen sharply the week before. The approximately three thousand inhabitants of Sint Eustatius again reported no new infections, on Saba there were three new confirmed infections.
The occupation in the hospitals on the islands also increased. According to the RIVM, last week 26 corona patients were in the nursing wards and thirteen in intensive care. The week before, that was still seventeen in the nursing wards and six in the IC. The number of corona patients transferred to Colombia remained at six.
These figures from the European equivalent of RIVM do not always coincide with the latest national figures. Not all infections and deaths end up in the statistics.