Nearly 2,400 coronavirus patients have died; Eighth-straight fall in new hospitalizations

New figures released by public health agency RIVM showed that at least 56 people with coronavirus died on Wednesday, bringing the total number of fatal cases connected to the virus to 2,396. The preliminary data, adjusted on a daily basis as new statistics are submitted to the agency, showed that 149 people were added to the list of those who died, including the 56 from Wednesday and another three early on Thursday.

Just over 23 thousand people in the Netherlands tested positive for a coronavirus infection as of Thursday, with the number of people tested approaching 109 thousand. While the

At least 103 people were hospitalized with symptoms connected to Covid-19 on Wednesday, bringing the tally of patient hospitalizations up to almost eight thousand. Wednesday showed the eighth straight drop in new hospitalizations, preliminary figures showed. Including adjustments to data dating back to mid-March, and including Wednesday's figure, 244 more people in total were known to have been admitted to a hospital.

On Wednesday the coordination center for patient distribution LCPS reported the first decrease in the number of Covid-19 patients in intensive care units since the epidemic began. A total of 1,408 patients were being treated for the coronavirus in ICU.

Jaap van Dissel of the RIVM and Diederik Gommers of intensive care association NVIC also both told parliament that the infection curve in the Netherlands is flattening. There are fewer new diagnoses and hospitalizations. But they, as well as Ernst Kuipers of the National Network of Acute Care, stressed that it is too soon to start relaxing measures in place to curb the spread of this virus.

The percentage of those who tested positive in the Netherlands are still more likely to live in Noord-Brabant than any of the other 11 provinces. A growing number of new viral infections across the Netherlands, but especially in Zuid-Holland, Noord-Holland, and Gelderland, has led to a change.

As the second week of March drew to a close, Noord-Brabant was home to about 45 percent of all those testing positive for coronavirus in the Netherlands. By Wednesday, that number fell to 23 percent. There were still several hundred whose residences were not yet logged by the RIVM.