Coronavirus cases spreading out beyond Noord-Brabant; More found in Tilburg, Amsterdam

THE NETHERLANDS – While the province of Noord-Brabant has seen an alarming rise in coronavirus patients, which nearly quadrupled since March 12, the overall percentage of total Dutch cases resident in the province has steadily declined. As of Thursday, Noord-Brabant was home to 842 people who tested positive for coronavirus, nearly 36 percent of the Dutch total of patients for whom their residence was known.

Just one week ago, Noord-Brabant was the home province of 46 percent of the country’s cases, data from public health agency RIVM showed. By March 17 that number was below 39 percent.

It signals a shift where other provinces in the country could begin outpacing the increases in Noord-Brabant. In Zuid-Holland, 303 people have tested positive, more than a five-fold increase from March 12. Over that same time period, Limburg has seen a six-fold increase to 291, and Noord-Holland nearly a seven-fold increase to 244.

While the rate of infection began to flatten out a bit in Utrecht, other provinces have begun to show startling increases in their rate of infection, like Gelderland and Overijssel.

Significant increases in Groningen, Tilburg, and Amsterdam

Another province showing signs of concern is Groningen, which was home to 29 patients on Thursday, up from zero on March 12. About 23 of the 29 reside in the city of Groningen, home to the Vindicat student association which took hundreds of people to Northern Italy for a ski holiday despite developing travel warnings. Most of those students returned on March 8 or 9.

Figures show that 298 municipalities out of all 355 in the Netherlands were home to at least one coronavirus patient. A week ago that number was 136.

The biggest increases per city were seen in Tilburg and Amsterdam, both adding 24 to their totals. Also near Amsterdam, Amstelveen nearly doubled its tally to 13, Haarlemmermeer was home to five patients, Ouder Amstel had three, and Diemen has not increased since the discovery of the first two cases found in the area.

Tilburg (119) and Breda (113) were still the two cities with the most coronavirus patients, followed by Amsterdam (85), Utrecht (83), and Rotterdam (81).

Those numbers paint a different picture when adjusted per capita. The statistics sorted by the number of positive coronavirus tests per 100 thousand residents showed that eight of the ten most affected cities were located in Noord-Brabant

In total, 2,460 people in the Netherlands were diagnosed with coronavirus, out of about 12 thousand who have been tested. Of the positive cases, the home residences of 2,371 were logged in the RIVM database. From that total, 76 people who were found to have the virus later died. They were between 63 and 95 years of age.

Positive coronavirus cases per province

Positive coronavirus cases per municipality

Positive coronavirus cases per municipality (per capita)